For years people have wondered what an Alan Sparhawk solo album would sound like. When Low, his band since 1993, retired due to the passing of Mimi Parker , his bandmate and wife , in 2022 talk was rife as to whether Sparhawk would record again or pass into music folklore. During 2023 he recorded with friends and family on the electro-pop project Damien and the funk band DRECHO Rhythm Section .
They were fun, but some rumoured they were just to get him playing again. Then in mid-2024, he released his debut solo single, ‘Can U Hear’ – filled with trap beats, filthy bass, and a world away from Low. The vocals were the most surprising: instead of the usual croon they were vocoder-laced, which divided the Low fanbase.
It was, however, a fitting prelude to his debut solo album ‘White Roses, My God’. ‘Get Still’ kicks the album off with a woozy synth melody, before a massive beat kicks in. “This doesn’t sound like anything Alan Sparhawk has put his name to before,” you think.
And you are right. It doesn’t. That’s why it’s awesome.
The opening line is “Do you want a big thrill? Do you wanna get real?” but it’s so overprocessed it’s hard to decipher it the first time around. While you are working out the lyrics suddenly some female vocal harmonies come in. “Is that Mimi?” you think.
Sounds like it, but it’s not. It is Sparhawk’s daughter Hollis. At the right moment, the seed is planted.
You go from the confusion of being confronted with somet.