Tiger Saw - Gimme Danger/Gimme Sweetness
(Kimchee)
Any similarities between Duluth snorecore band Low and "R U Courageous," the opening track that provides the title for the third album from this Massachusetts trio, is purely intentional. Heck, they've even coerced ex-Low collaborator (and current Pale Horse and Rider member) Marc Gartman to stop by with his lap steel. Several glockenspiel players, a couple of organists, a toy piano, and a banjo player add other much-needed layers of originality to the tunes. But with the iceberg-slow flow of tracks like "I Am So Cold" and "Forever Taking Leave," it's nigh impossible to sever the comparisons to Low titles like "Over the Ocean" (from 1996's Curtain Hits the Cast) and "Medicine Magazines" and "July" (from 2001's excellent Things We Lost in the Fire) or said band's famous covers of Joy Division's "Transmission" and the Bee Gees' "I Started a Joke."
That's not to suggest that the songs here are weak or boring. In fact, Juliet Nelson has a lovely voice of which the band would be wise to make better use. I'd also like to hear more of her exquisite cello playing, which adds extra warmth to the tender, cinematic instrumental "West of the Sun" and imbues "The Sweetest Goodnight" with a mournful Godspeed You Black Emperor! vibe perfectly suited to the song's romantic nostalgia. The autobiographical "All My Friends are Right Here with Me" benefits from the fancy fingerpicking of "Blindbanjodjim," who adds a down-home, backporch campfire sing-along vibe to this fun "where are they now?" reading of leader Dylan Metrano's little black book.
An ill-advised and woe-begotten cover of guest Jason Anderson's "The Goodbye" (from his Wolf Colonel album Something/Everything (2002, K)) ends the release on a boring, poorly sung low note (no pun intended). But there are enough highlights leading up to it that you can simply hit "eject" and ponder the otherwise lovely offerings on display, so I do recommended the release to fans of Low, Ida, Nanang Tatang, Galaxie 500, Damon & Naomi, and other likeminded, couple-led snorecore bands.
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