by Danny Mendelson (@bigyawnband)
There’s something missing from Alan Sparhawk’s With Trampled by Turtles, the new record from the Low guitarist. Absence has long defined Sparhawk’s output, with space and the natural decay of chords and cymbal washes articulating more emotion than dense riffs and fast tempos ever could.
For 30 years, Sparhawk and his wife, drummer Mimi Parker, continually put out innovative, genre-pioneering albums as Low, albums that experimented with stripping songs down to their bare minimum, allowing for sonic experimentation and maximalism in unexpected places. My introduction to Low was at the 2019 iteration of the Basilica Soundscape festival in Hudson, NY. I had bought a ticket to let punk and metal stalwarts like Cloud Rat and The Body pummel me with massive amps, smashed drums, and screamed vocals. When Low took the stage Friday night, though, gone were the half stacks and 24in bass drums, in their place a pair of tiny old Fender amps and a drum setup consisting of a floor tom, a snare drum, and a ride cymbal. Immediately I learned that the heaviest music can be punishingly slow and have a wide dynamic range that revels in the tension of quiet. I’ve been an obsessive fan since.
Parker’s untimely passing in 2022 halted the trajectory of this influential band, but in his grief Sparhawk has continued to tour regularly and has released an eclectic pair of records on Sub Pop, last year’s experimental White Roses, My God and now With Trampled by Turtles, a collaboration with the fellow Minnesotan bluegrass band.
It is difficult not to imagine what Parker’s signature minimalist drumming and sturdy voice would have added to these compositions. At times, like on album standout “Not Broken,” when Parker and Sparhawk’s daughter Hollis Sparhawk fills her mother’s roll, it is even painful to feel the weight of loss on this family and artistic community. And yet as Sparhawk has always set out to prove, there is something new and beautiful to be found in the space an absence leaves if you are willing to confront it. Trampled by Turtles bring a true respect to the songs and a spirit of collaboration that effortlessly brings out the best in Sparhawk’s writing. Their dense acoustic arrangements and playful rhythmic sensibility shine on songs like “Get Still” and “Don’t Take Your Light.”
“So if you and I, love, is forever/Then I’ll probably be screaming that long,” Sparhawk bares on “Screaming Song,” and we’ll be lucky to listen, eyes full of tears.