CXXII. Low | The Curtain Hits The Cast

LOW

The Curtain Hits The Cast

©Vernon Yard. US, 1996.

‟Back in '96, while I and countless others were listening to Sixteen Stone and Dookie, Low was crafting a gem of an album - one that would not ever be fully appreciated by its audience. With two other albums under their belt, Low obviously was used to it and unwilling to allow it to stop them from releasing their slower-than-molasses indie rock ballads upon the masses. Thank God they did. The Curtain Hits The Cast is one of those ahead-of-its-time masterpieces that opens up like a ten year old bordeaux - slowly and intoxicatingly. With each track that seemingly drifts in and out of existence, Low's tailored minimalism hangs like a haze over the listener, lulling them inward, inside themselves, to the place where all their fears and joys reside. "Anon" plays like a lonesome drive, while the ever more-hushed "Coattails" reminds me of my first experience with love and longing. Without a doubt, the winner here is the lengthy-yet-rewarding "Do You Know How To Waltz?", with its heavily delayed, lush layers of guitar and magnificently thoughtful lyric, "One more dance before they take away the light", which seems to be what we all want from each other anyway: one last chance.

Whether you're a lover, a fighter, a thinker or a writer, The Curtain Hits The Cast will drop its emotionally-charged anti-ballads of love and desperation into the broken hearts we all pretend we don't carry around with us under our Sunday best. This album will become your new obsession.‟

Shutupandbreakdance