Low / Songs For A Dead Pilot
Artist Low
Album Title: Songs For A Dead Pilot
Album Cover:
Primary Genre Alternative & Punk: Snore-Core
Format CD EP
Released 10/07/1997
Label Kranky
Catalog No KRANK 021
Bar Code No 7 96441 80212 8
Packaging Jewelcase
Tracks
1. Will The Night (3:06)
2. Condescend (5:10)
3. Born By The Wires (13:26)
4. Be There (4:42)
5. Landlord (6:47)
6. Hey Chicago (2:40)
Date Acquired 12/12/1998
Personal Rating
Acquired from Let It Be
Purchase Price 14.00

Web Links

All Music Guide Entry:
Discogs Entry:

Notes

Bass – Zak Sally
Cello [The Flag Day Strings] – Cassandra Legge, Jaron Childs
Guitar, Keyboards – Alan Sparhawk
Mixed By – Low, Tom Herbers
Percussion – Mimi Parker
Recorded By – Low
Viola [The Flag Day Strings] – Tresa Ellickson
Vocals – Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker
Written-By – Low

foobar2000 1.3.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-03-04 22:02:52

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Analyzed: Low / Songs for a Dead Pilot
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DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track
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DR9       -2.28 dB   -16.79 dB      3:06 01-Will the Night
DR9        0.00 dB   -13.06 dB      5:10 02-Condescend
DR13       0.00 dB   -17.17 dB     13:27 03-Born by the Wires
DR12       0.00 dB   -15.69 dB      4:43 04-Be There
DR14       0.00 dB   -19.38 dB      6:47 05-Landlord
DR12      -2.17 dB   -20.97 dB      2:41 06-Hey Chicago
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Number of tracks:  6
Official DR value: DR12

Samplerate:        44100 Hz
Channels:          2
Bits per sample:   16
Bitrate:           583 kbps
Codec:             FLAC
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Reviews
All Music Guide Review:

Review by Nathan Bush
After Low left London's Vernon Yard label due to mutual financial pressures, the band members returned to their residence in Duluth, MN. There, they set up a studio in the basement of Allan Sparhawk (vocals and guitar) and Mimi Parker's (percussion and vocals) home and, along with bassist Zak Sally, set about recording Songs for a Dead Pilot. The album cover image of a stark, winter landscape is an appropriate visual match for the group's music. The mood on Songs is almost overwhelmingly somber and, like much of the band's music, often develops at a glacial pace. Bringing time to a crawl, the band exposes the silence and space in the music to great, occasionally thrilling effect. Low's drama is created in the gaps between guitar chords and snare hits. Engineering their own record allowed the members of Low the freedom to experiment. A washing machine was apparently employed for the low drum thud of "Be There." Deciphering the methods behind "Will the Night" is even more complicated; it would make a strong candidate for the most obscure opening album track. Heard as if from the other end of a tunnel, its melody is almost inaudible through a dense fog of echo. The song would reappear two years later on the Secret Name album, draped in a lush string arrangement that brought the band into new territory. "Born By the Wires," a song stripped to its bare bones, clocks in at over 13 minutes, although the body of the song takes place during the first five. Sparhawk sings in a fragile falsetto like a withdrawn child entertaining himself. The effect is chilling. Following this, the guitarist lapses into eight minutes of a repeated chord. While it seems to entrance the musician, it's the kind of aimless diversion few listeners will have the patience for. "Landlord" has a similar structure yet succeeds through slow, careful development. At its worst, Songs for a Dead Pilot is the sound of unsuccessful experiments on record. Repeated listening will only make its inconsistencies more apparent. However, the best songs ("Condescend," "Be There," and "Hey Chicago") provide the link between two of Low's best full-length recordings: the similarly constructed The Curtain Hits the Cast and the bolder Secret Name.
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