Low The Great Destroyer

How many bands make their best album ten years and seven discs into their career? Not many, but with The Great Destroyer, Low may have turned this trick. More a natural progression in the Duluth, Minnesota trio's development from one-trick slowcore ponies than a jarring reinvention, The Great Destroyer underscores Low's established strengths and sheds light on some new attributes, too. The austere, stately likes of "Silver Rider" and "On the Edge Of" sound most similar to Low's early work, while the sprawling "Broadway" and ominous "Monkey" seem to blaze new trails. Somewhere in the middle lies "California," a tuneful, propulsive and finely sung pop gem that comes off classic from the first note. The album was tracked and mixed in part by Dave Fridmann, producer extraordinaire for the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev.