So I'm back home. The Squarepusher concert was amazing, although I didn't care for the opening act. The temptation to use one of his splattering, intense 'songs' for this week's WES was there, but the car ride home changed my mind.
K. showed up, bless her, and we dropped Pete off back in Oakville. The poor bastard was dealing with more sleep deprivation than I will hopefully ever have to endure. As we left Oakville I popped in low's Trust, my favorite of their albums. And the sinuous, slow '(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace' was the first thing out of the speaker.
I know low have recently had trouble with their bassist, although that's since been resolved. But I've also noticed that parts of Trust seem bassless, even when you can make it out in the back if you focus. '(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace' is one of those moments, Mimi Parker's dead simple drum beat and Alan sparhawk's winding, chiming guitar part and their voice.
I have often wondered about low which came first, the band or the marriage; did they fall in love once they realised that this is what they sounded like together? Or is it the other way around? In either case '(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace' is sung entirely in harmony, the lyrics being (in standard low style) cryptic, vaguely menacing (It sounds like razors in my ears/That bell's been ringing now for years or I knew a girl when I was young/She took her spikes from everyone) but ultimately of some sort of devotional, liturgical nature:
Oh can you hear that sweet, sweet sound
I once was lost but now I'm found
Sometimes there's nothing left to say
That's how you sing Amazing Grace
And then they launch into the chorus again, just those two voices wrapping around each other, intoning Amazing Grace again and again. It is truly beautiful.
'(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace' is a great song for night driving. It's a great song for reunions. It is hushed, it is lovely, and it has the best fractured, five-note guitar solo I've ever heard. It stretches out for a full seven minutes, and the first few times I heard it I could have sworn it was no more than four. It's not quite as slow as some of low's older material, but it's not fast. It has it's own pace, and it forces you to match it rather than vice versa.
What ultimately made me pick it rather than a Squarepusher song is its measured calm. After a long weekend (five days) of being mostly constantly amped up, it was a relief and a joy to sit in the jeep, chat with K., drive through the night, and almost literally unwind. '(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace' is the sound of an unwinding.
-----
