“Disappearing” plays out like Low’s entire career in gorgeously framed time-lapse photography. Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker sing together in close harmony, their voices stark and awestruck, until digital decay comes along and swallows them up. It’s like the bare and hymn-like slowcore of Secret Name giving way ecstatically to the decaying drones of Double Negative — a file gorgeously corrupted.
Even as the waves of fuzz and glitch overtake them, Sparhawk and Parker offer up a prayer to mystery itself: “That disappearing horizon, it brings cold comfort to my soul/ An ever-present reminder/ The constant face of the unknown.” On “Disappearing,” as on so many other things that they’ve done together over the years, Low rush out to greet that unknown. They revel in it. This is astonishing, really beautiful, cannot wait for the new album.
“Disappearing” from Low’s album “Hey What” (Out September 10th, 2021)
