Dreamy indie rock. After their bleak, sparse yet intense, Drums and Guns, Low finally returns with some sort of move toward indie rock mainstream and emotional directness. This is really polished, glossy, hi-fi, produced. It's more up-tempo than a lot of their stuff, but it still achieves a dreamy feel. I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed, although Low hasn't really been the same band for about 10 years anyway. Also, I'm not one to criticize lyrics usually, but I don't know what happened. I think some of you will dig this, but if you like the Low of the mid 90s, this may be hard to swallow. No FCCs.

*1. Really lush hi-fi production, lots of bells and synth touches, a little plucked banjo, kind of dreamy pop song, lots of trademark backing Mimi vocals. (4:18)
2. Simplistic old-school Low drums but with really polished vocals layers and glossy guitar chords, loud pianos, more bells. (4:06)
3. Crunchy distorto guitar led, organs; basically Retribution Gospel Choir slowed down with the addition of Mimi. (4:01)
*4. More minimalistic, twangy, pretty harmonies. (2:53)
5. Speed waltz, distorted guitars, simplistic bass drum plod but weird with shaker or something, more layers of pretty vocals, but so so produced it hurts. It's really pretty and there are strings and more banjo. Nice kind of Kate Bush feel, but I just can't handle it. (5:27)
6. Slow, 'epic' feel with building backing vocals, really groan-worthy: "my love is for free/my love." :( (4:09)
7. Dark, kind of droney guitar, slow build, some noisy guitar comes in and it climaxes to a rich wall of sound. (4:12)
*8. Cool, relaxed, almost noir groove feel. An unusual number for them with synth. (4:56)
9. Sparhawk's Neil Young love comes through here - slow, melancholy distorted crunch builds and builds with layers of strings, pedal steel, guitars. (8:10)
10. More lighthearted, "ba ba" backing vocals, acoustic guitar-led, Sparhawk holds long notes while Mimi and the bassist provide layer after layer of backing vocals. (3:20)