You Will Get Your. Reward.

Things We Lost in the Fire. The title alone conjures an image of the things you failed to consider as you made your life-saving escape. To forsake the needed for the sentimental and precious - the frivolous and superficial are secured in lieu of the essential. Despite the reminiscent & implied regretful tone of the title, the sound of Low manifests itself as the opposite: immediate, universal & shed of unnecessary flourish. However: this album is a milestone in Low's career, a transition into familiar melody and accessible song...and it is possible that even at mid-career, they chose a title hinting at the purity of sound they were leaving in their wake.

Low's 4 previous efforts set a Mendoza Line for slowcore, making this album a pleasanlty jarring surprise. Not like there was anything wrong with their previous work: they had defined a niche, they created a texture...they owned being sober at 2 a.m. in the morning. Things We Lost in the Fire is like a patient coming out of a coma; coming into life. Where their previous efforts created texture, this album created movement.

Also, Fire is not as jarring a transition as say, the later Great Destroyer - another title that shows it's cards. With Fire, Low conceded very little in their approach - still being very dour and deliberate - but incorporated lush arrangements, warm and familiar chord changes, and the occasional latent rock hook. Instead of relying heavily on vocal textures, a studied approach to the emotionally evocative lyric is utilized; instead of a single sound pattern, a pastiche of style is brought to the fore. This is Low maturing in a single bound, breaking into new territory.

The album embarks with "Sunflower": if you are a first-time listener, you are gauging whether this is the most depressing thing you've ever heard. If you've already plunged into Long Division - you're accusing another band - not Low - of copping Alan & Mimi's impeccable harmony and name and laying it over a melodic track. But that's transition. It sets the tone for the album...sparse guitar work and plodding - sometimes delicately brushing - drum strokes. "Whitetail" sprawls into Low's past and future, with hanging vocals and foreboding musical accompanyment.

But Low delves into a sluggish pop sound with "Dinosaur Act" - a song that invokes the Pixies' Loud/Quiet/Loud formula - and an indication that the band is shedding itself of a resistence to music more accessible to the unsuspecting world. This is even moreso evident on "July", a song that announces itself with a hypnotic and apocalypctic beat - moving through different measures and contexts and leaving the listener with the reminscent lines -

They'll Never Wake Us In Time
They'll Never Wake Us In Time

To be followed by Mimi & Alan's la-la's and month-calling (August, September, October) to the outro strings. "July", along with "Embrace", create a centerpiece to the album: the latter bears forward with a drum pulse as Mimi's vocals lilt and and hang until the song builds to a head. The lyrics imply a tragedy the listener can only guess at.

The second half of the album finds Low flirting with catchy harmonies / arpeggios as they delve into "Whore":

What is the whore you're living for
Is it so wrong to think there's more
There's always one worth waiting for
What is the whore you're living for?

It is a beautiful, melodic, pretty song - with a serious message - and an evil realization: "You want to speak like angels / but you can't." It comfortably moves into "Kind of Girl" - showcasing their easy harmony over folk guitar - before aspiring to the affected pop of "Like A Forest". Relying on a lyrical hook and foregoing musical complexity, this song is a pleasant reminisence: "Goes off in my hands" resounds and resounds.

"Closer" is familar territory, with Mimi and Alan's harmony in-sync and transcendent over the music. "In Metal" ends the album with a preview of Low's future: by relation it is a driving stride and rumble that addresses the precious & fleeting transience of raising a child.

Things We Lost in the Fire is not so much a challenging album as it is an album that might easily go by unappreciated in a year bringing forth a lot of great efforts. It isn't designed to shock or awe, but it finds a quiet strengh in melody and informed lyrics. It separates itself in its uniqueness; a uniqueness that is sublime. Really: if you already own it, give it another listen. If you have no clue about Low: check it out.