The Low Anthem is the subject of the cover story in the Providence Phoenix, which looks at their new album, Smart Flesh, and, the heady year that preceded it. "The subject matter on the new disc revolves around life’s inevitable end," says the Phoenix, "delivered with such poise and poignancy that it’s easily the band’s most impressive album." KCRW calls it "their best album yet ... With ghostly echoes of such luminous predecessors as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and the country side of the Rolling Stones, The Low Anthem has raised the bar for practitioners of the high-lonesome side of indie folk sounds in the new decade."
The Low Anthem is the subject of the cover story in this week's Providence Phoenix, the band's hometown weekly. Writer Chris Conti spoke with the quartet—Ben Knox-Miller, Jeff Prystowsky, Jocie Adams, and Mat Davidson (all pictured, at left, from the Phoenix)—about their forthcoming album, Smart Flesh, out this Tuesday on Nonesuch, and, in Prystowsky's words, the “tumultuous, exasperating, amazing and lovely year” that preceded it.
Their conversation touched on, among many other things, their unforgettable tour with Emmylou Harris; walking the red carpet at the Mojo Honours List ceremony, where they were named the 2010 Breakthrough Act; and, of course, recording the new album in a cavernous, abandoned, and, quite possibly, haunted pasta sauce factory in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
Regarding that last topic, and the effect of the recording environment on the final album, Conti says that "the subject matter on the new disc revolves around life’s inevitable end, delivered with such poise and poignancy that it’s easily the band’s most impressive album."
Conti later goes on to describe the album this way: "Smart Flesh provides a radiant platform for the band’s harmonizing and, of course, their knack for switching up and incorporating vintage instruments like crotales, singing saw, vintage pump organs, and dulcimer, all complementing Knox-Miller’s Dylanesque tone."
Read the complete cover story at thephoenix.com.
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Los Angeles public radio station KCRW, in a preview of the album, says Smart Flesh is "one of the most anticipated albums of the spring. And listening to it, one feels like the band took the energy of anticipation and used it to fuel their best album yet."
KCRW's Eric J. Lawrence sees the pasta sauce factory where they recorded it as an integral ingredient in the album's success. The band "used the cavernous environment to dramatic effect, lending an otherworldly sound to their already sophisticated yet minimalist melancholic folk-rock jams," he says. "Serving almost as a fifth member of the band, the inspired setting gives The Low Anthem the perfect resonance for their oft-spooky tales of love and loss."
Lawrence concludes: "With ghostly echoes of such luminous predecessors as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and the country side of the Rolling Stones, The Low Anthem has raised the bar for practitioners of the high-lonesome side of indie folk sounds in the new decade."
Read more and listen to the complete album now at kcrw.com.
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To reserve a copy of Smart Flesh on vinyl, CD, and in a deluxe edition, head to the Nonesuch Store, where pre-orders include an instant download of the opening track, "Ghost Woman Blues," and a limited-edition poster autographed by the band, plus high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the complete album available on release day.
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As the Phoenix article notes, the band hits the road to launch their tour next week and has just added a very special return to their home state and, in fact, the very spot where Smart Flesh was recorded: They perform at Porino’s Pasta Sauce Factory in Central Falls on March 12. For more information on the tour, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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