Things have been relatively quiet in Low land of late – you know, besides the music – but the Duluth indie darlings have finally announced the follow-up to 2013's Jeff Tweedy-produced album "The Invisible Way."
The trio's 11th full-length studio release, "Ones and Sixes," will arrive Sept. 11 via Sub Pop Records. It was recorded at Justin Vernon's April Base Studio near Eau Claire with versatile Minne-Sconnie sonic guru BJ Burton behind the glass. Alan Sparhawk and Burton previously worked together on Trampled by Turtles' last album at Pachyderm Studio. Here's how Sparhawk recounted the making of the album in a press release:
BJ contacted us a few years ago and invited us out to the studio where he works with Justin, Lizzo, and other artists. The studio is close to our home in Duluth, so it seemed tempting. Months later, I worked with BJ, producing the recent record by Trampled by Turtles. We got along and seemed to have similar curiosity about the possibilities for Low, so time was booked and songs finished. We tracked under the soft glow of laser discs playing lost classics like Point Break and Speed. Glenn Kotche from Wilco was there one day working on another record, so we had him in to play hand-percussion on a couple songs. Working 2 or 3 days at a time, leaving it with BJ, then back again for more, we don't have the time or money to second-guess or pick from a pool of possibilities. This is the whole thought—the untamed truth. This is now. This is everything.
Pitchfork premiered the first track off the album, a classically ominous and lightly electronic flavored song called "No Comprende," which we've posted below.
Along with the album news came a tour announcement, including a long stretch of European dates leading up to an overdue return to First Avenue on Nov. 11 (on sale Friday at noon). Low was also already scheduled to play Vernon's Eaux Claires Festival on July 17.
The band is going a little ways out of the way to get to Eaux Claires: It also has for four shows scheduled in China before the festival.
