Low vs Diamond
- Rock
- 2008
- Buy the CD
Reviewed by Mike Farley
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Singer and chief songwriter Lucas Fields hails from Seattle, which explains the rainy day feel to a lot of the material, but there are never less than three or four layers to Low vs Diamond’s music. For instance, the opening track, “Don’t Forget Sister,” sounds like brooding singer/songwriter Cary Brothers fronting Snow Patrol. “Killer B” and “Heart Attack” have a retro ‘80’s thing going on—walls of Fender guitars and vocals, combined with powerful vocals from Fields that resembles INXS during the Michael Hutchence era. “This Is Your Life” sounds like a good Coldplay song, and has a definitive movie soundtrack feel. But Low vs Diamond has a soft side too, with alt-pop gem “Song We Sang Away” and piano ballad “Annie” being two of the best tracks. Finally, “I’ll Be” will remind you of Echo & the Bunnymen circa 1987.
The best part about Low vs Diamond’s debut isn’t that it’s deep enough to play the whole way through without hitting “skip,” it’s the fact that the band was signed to suddenly daring Epic Records and has no regard to try and fit into a genre. They just write the music they want to, and let the natural influences of each band member bring it to life. And sometimes that formula works better than anything that’s forced. Will Low vs Diamond be able to top this stellar debut? For now, it doesn’t matter; there’s still plenty of time to enjoy it.
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