Retribution Gospel Choir: Low's Alan Sparhawk rediscovers the joy of volume, volume, volume
With his long-running trio Low, singer-guitarist Alan Sparhawk explores the possibilities of playing as quietly and deliberately as possible. Over two decades, Low has made some of the most gorgeous music of its time, with a premium placed on space, silence and hymn-like melodies.
Now comes Retribution Gospel Choir, another trio that includes drummer Eric Pollard and Low bassist Scott Garrington. It would be easy to characterize the band as the anti-Low with its love of volume and distortion, a reaction against what Sparhawk does in his other band. But as is usually the case with the guitarist, it’s not quite that simple.
“I can see where it could be perceived as a release from what Low would allow,” Sparhawk says. “But it’s not that. It’s more like the people I’m playing with."
“With Low, for sure, it’s very much Mimi and I,” he adds, referring to his wife, Mimi Parker, who is Low’s other singer and percussionist. “She’s very much the tone and the spirit of that band. As much as it may sound confining, she is the rulebook, she is the tone that I am aspiring to when making music in Low.”
Now comes Retribution Gospel Choir, another trio that includes drummer Eric Pollard and Low bassist Scott Garrington. It would be easy to characterize the band as the anti-Low with its love of volume and distortion, a reaction against what Sparhawk does in his other band. But as is usually the case with the guitarist, it’s not quite that simple.
“I can see where it could be perceived as a release from what Low would allow,” Sparhawk says. “But it’s not that. It’s more like the people I’m playing with."
“With Low, for sure, it’s very much Mimi and I,” he adds, referring to his wife, Mimi Parker, who is Low’s other singer and percussionist. “She’s very much the tone and the spirit of that band. As much as it may sound confining, she is the rulebook, she is the tone that I am aspiring to when making music in Low.”