Nowhere is that more apparent than on “Sunflowers,” the opening track on Things We Lost. The guitars strum, the drums have the pulse of a living being, and the refrain begs for a singalong: “Sweet, sweet, sweet/ Sweet sunflowers.” Sparhawk even gives a delightful little off-the-cuff “hup!” before the song marches to its rising, dare I say triumphant outro. But listen closely to the song’s first words, and youll reckon that all is still not exactly right: “When they found your body/ Giant X’s on your eyes.” The album’s other crowd pleaser is “Dinosaur Act” — another gorgeous, crashing chorus with wistful lyrical undertones and even a glorious trumpet line that follows the vocal melody (played, oddly enough, by Albini’s Shellac bandmate Bob Weston). But Things We Lost In The Fire balances out those bigger moments with some of the band’s most spare and slightly scary. Right between “Sunflowers” and “Dinosaur Act” sits “Whitetail,” whose insistent, unchanging guitar suggests something sneaking up on you, intent on doing you harm. The lyrics, consisting of maybe 20 words, menace as well: “Closer, closer/ Ever closer.”
Throughout the Low catalog, Parker and Sparhawk share vocals: Sometimes she’s in front, sometimes he is, and often their voices wind around each other’s — hers more sympathetic and longing, his more direct, but always gorgeous. She takes the wheel for Things‘ midsection; “Laser Beam” is nothing but her near-whisper and a simple guitar line, and just two songs later she builds from resignation to crushing bravado on “Embrace.” On the latter she’s accompanied by subdued strings, another step away from Low’s original minimal mission. It’s not particularly clear what “Embrace” is about — the same is true of most of Low’s lyrically impressionistic catalog — but I’ve always read it as a companion to the final song on Things We Lost In The Fire, “In Metal.” “Embrace” includes the early lyric “Pushing my body/ To get that embrace” and ends with, “He handed me your head,” which I’ve always read as a reference to childbirth.
That would directly connect it to the stunning “In Metal.” Preceded by an untitled bit of palate-cleansing noise, “In Metal” is one of Low’s best songs, and one of a few in their vast catalog that’s relatively straightforward lyrically. It’s about the birth of Parker and Sparhawk’s daughter Hollis, and rather than a simple declaration of parental joy, it’s an emotional examination — a slightly painful nostalgia for something that hasn’t even happened yet, their child growing up. “Partly hate to see you grow,” Parker sings, “And just like your baby shoes/ Wish I could keep your little body/ In metal.” Hollis herself squeaks in delight as the song begins. It got me well before I was a parent, and gets me even more as the father of a 10-year-old. “In Metal” ends this emotionally complex set of songs on a joyful note, and the last thing you hear is a little baby coo. Things are going to be all right, it seems to say, even if they’re rarely easy.read more
Things We Lost In The Fire Turns 20
