Alan Sparhawk (of Low) - White Roses, My God - 27/09/24

[Goiter Sanchez]

Alan Sparhawk of Low has picked himself up and dusted himself off in the wake of Mimi Parker's passing. His new solo LP 'White Roses, My God' will be out on Sub Pop September 27th.

Here's the first single 'Can U Hear':

Alan had been posting jam sessions on Instagram these past few Fridays where it's just him with a drum machine, bass synth, and pedals for vocal manipulation, so this aesthetic direction doesn't come as a huge surprise if you'd seen those. I imagine it won't resonate with all the Low fans, but I feel like there's a vital energy here and am definitely interested in what the full album will bring.

[gnarlybog]

Very interesting, even if a bit too heavy on the vocal processing. Can't help but wonder how it would sound with his clean vox layered in.
Those last few Low albums are unreal. Very happy he's continuing in some way.

Excellent video too.

[logboy]

most positive thing i can say is ... he's got an acoustic album coming.

[subsub]

Sounds a bit like Cher

[Zephyr_Nova]

31 minutes ago, subsub said:

Sounds a bit like Cher

An interviewer said this very thing to him, and he enthusiastically agreed.

[d-a-m-o]

3 hours ago, Zephyr_Nova said:

An interviewer said this very thing to him, and he enthusiastically agreed.

Interviewer : "Damn your new single sounds like Cher"

Alan Sparhawk "ah ah that's right !"

[Key]

It kind of sounds like a heavier take on the kind of sound More Eaze or Alex G are doing when they mess with autotune. Not enough disco vibes to be Cher.

[Goiter Sanchez]

Interview where he talks more about grief and the choices he made for this music:

“The tools I used before no longer work,” he says. “I’m trying to use my voice, but I don’t want to hear my voice, so I needed to find another voice.” He stops, wondering if he is making sense. “It felt like I was stabbing into the unknown, trying to figure things out. I started the machines, messed with them until something resonant happened, and then I started singing. And, sometimes, something would come out that I could not stop and I could not mess with.”

... at the following link:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/19/lows-alan-sparhawk-on-the-death-of-his-wife-and-bandmate-mimi-parker-if-you-fall-in-love-you-know-this-could-happen

Edited July 22 by Goiter Sanchez

[Goiter Sanchez]

Yeah, I'm not getting the Cher comparison at all, unless there was another of her tracks that used a more affected treated vocal sound other than 'Believe' that I'm not aware of. The vocoder on this Sparhawk track sounds more like something I heard Kanye West use on some of his more recent tracks. Would be a pretty hilarious cross pollination regardless.

[perunamuusi]

I guess Cher is the handiest comparison to make when you're a man in his mid 50s who listens to Low, and not a young person who knows or cares what More Eaze and Alex G are.

[Blir]

Holy fuck are those vocals intolerable. The music is good but how has autotune not died yet? It's nails on a fucking chalkboard. Sort it out Alan

[Goiter Sanchez]

New track from album released, I like the instrumental on this one a lot and the big chords with the other voices. If you didn't like the vocoder on the previous track you won't like this one either most likely lol