Okay, so this may or may not be interesting to you. Low is a band from Duluth, Minnesota that my friend Jacob (most-likely) got me listening to (well, aside from when my dad bought Secret Name and gave it to me after commenting that the music, “makes me want to kill mydelf [sic].” But Jacob also just happens to be the main reason (or at least the main encouragement towards it) that I started this here blog called Can You See the Sunset From the Southside. Interesting, right? He also recently moved to Minnesota, where Low is from, and Low just happens to have written one of our favorite Christmas songs ever (“Just Like Christmas”), so is this a coincidence or not? You be the judge. Anyhow, and all intoxicated ramblings aside, Alan Sparhawk is best known as the frontman for the aforementioned slowcore pioneers Low but also for his much-more-uptemo blues-rock side project Black Eyed Snakes. i only tell you this because Sparhawk has a new non-Low project called the Retribution Gospel Choir and it sorta splits the difference. The Retribution Gospel Choir also features Low bassist Matt Livingston. So it doesn’t really come as too much of a surprise that the RGC sounds a little like an amped-up stoner-rock incarnation without Mimi’s vocals in the mix because (really) that’s what it is. There is plenty of crashing drums and stoic guitar riffage, but Retribution Gospel Choir is basically a pretty simple record at its core and for as much rock and noise the band creates, it is still dirgey and anything by quickly-paced. All that being said, I still think Alan Sparhawk is an amazing songwriter and arranger as does former RGC bandmate Mark Kozelek who produced the album and released it on his own label.
MP3 | Retribution Gospel Choir – Breaker Retribution Gospel Choir
MP3 | Retribution Gospel Choir – For Her Blood Retribution Gospel Choir
