The Low Anthem's Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, finds the trio going "beyond what we've come to expect out of most young bands," says JamBase in a profile of the group. The album's opening track, "Charlie Darwin," is "a delightfully haunting number that relishes in its own simplicity, reminding us that there are still good songs being made." The band's performance of the tune is such that it "will make your scalp tingle."
With The Low Anthem playing The Troubadour in Los Angeles tonight, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim playing the New York Yankees in a sixth game of the American League Championship Series in New York this weekend, it's only fitting that band member Jeff Prystowsky should use a baseball metaphor when describing The Low Anthem and its nonstop touring to JamBase's Mike Bookey. "What we're doing is similar to what minor league baseball players go through," he says, "trying to make the big leagues, traveling around, playing for scouts, trying to get their average up, hitting for power, working on their base running."
Prystowsky's metaphor comes not just from pennant fever; he's been passionate about the sport for years, as has his band mate Ben Knox Miller. Even so, Bookey suggests an alternative theory that takes the band well out of the minor leagues.
"It's more a rookie pitcher who's been called up toward the end of the season and catches the attention of everyone from opposing hitters, scouts and sportswriters right before the playoffs roll around," he writes in a Jam Base profile of the band. It does seem an apt comparison in a year that's seen the band go from early buzz to the release of their critically acclaimed Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin.
Bookey goes on to describe the musical sensibilities of the band members as "beyond what we've come to expect out of most young bands." He cites as an example the album's opening track, "Charlie Darwin" (the video for which premiered on Stereogum yesterday), calling it "a delightfully haunting number that relishes in its own simplicity, reminding us that there are still good songs being made." The band's performance of the tune is such that it "will make your scalp tingle."
Now that the playoffs have indeed arrived, it seems the band has given all those scouts something well worth paying attention to. As Bookey concludes:
They went from a much-talked-about unsigned act that hit some big festival stages and opened for the likes of Ray LaMontagne to one with a wide-released album that will almost certainly end up on some "Best of 2009" lists come year's end.
Read the article, with much more from Jeff Prystowsky, at jambase.com. For more on The Low Anthem's current tour with Blind Pilot, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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