The Runout: Secret music in Low's Hey What
First in UA's The Runout, where Eric and I will post long or short bits about our record collections, whether new additions or old favorites.
Another way Eric and I frequently while away the hours is by spinning our record collections. We do have somewhat varying tastes, but our Venn diagrams overlap enough to make our sessions a good time. We get a little less of that these days, given our two-states-apart-ness, so I figured we could try to recreate that vibe via the blog.
One of the awesome things about work-from-home is the fact that I get to choose my own soundtrack in the room. One that's been coming up in my rotation more frequently is Low's Hey What, the legendary indie mostly-duo's most recent release. If you don't know Low, they are an all-time-great band out of Minnesota that has played around in a variety of genres since their founding in 1993, but are most frequently associated with slowcore, and are led by guitarist Alan Sparhawk and drummer Mimi Parker, who share vocal duties.
If you aren't aware, Mimi Parker recently passed away after a long battle with cancer, making Hey What possibly Low's last proper LP. Her singing is possibly the most indelible element of their sound – it's truly a haunting, hanging thing that sort of suspends itself above whatever happens to be going on at the time. Give Nina Corcoran's remembrance in Pitchfork a read for a proper commemoration.
Hey What, released in 2021, is just an outstanding effort – it ranks way up there with all their work for me, and is in some ways their most challenging and unique release, leaning away from their longtime guitar and drum based sound even more than they already had been in previous years. At this point, I'm probably wearing the grooves real deep on it.
On every side of every vinyl record, whether 45 or LP, there is something called a runout, where the record will just spin forever in silence until you lift the needle and flip the thing over, if you don't have a fancy record player that automatically lifts the needle off. Hey What's runout, however, is a little unique, in that there is actually some music there:
It's a beautiful, hanging loop that sort of flows endlessly – I've been known to let my turntable just spin here for a long while, just enjoying the lilt of it.
