Alan Sparhawk (of Low)

Sparhawk’s set begins with several tracks from 2024’s ‘White Roses, My Love,’ his debut solo album, made following the death of his wife and former Low bandmate Mimi Parker in 2022. Sparhawk – his t-shirt removed after a few minutes – gyrates erratically around the stage, seemingly completely absorbed in the powerful stew of sound he and the two musicians accompanying him have created. The entire performance is underpinned by Erik Pollard’s drums and Sparhawk’s son Cyrus’s bass playing, but it’s Sparhawk’s distorted, manipulated vocals that utterly dominate. Very occasionally during this opening section of the concert, words or phrases are discernible, but generally this is not the case and the music’s strange power seems enhanced by the digital effects obscuring most of the language. The effect is heightened both by Sparhawk’s commanding physical presence, as he bounds around the stage, and the fact that, during this part of his performance, he does not speak at all between songs. It’s an utterly remarkable, hypnotic display of energy and defiance. Midway through the evening the digital effects on the vocals end, and Sparhawk’s powerful, tender singing is revealed, as are the lyrics to the remaining songs. It’s a dramatic shift in some respects – and is also marked by the introduction of some phenomenal guitar playing - but appears utterly natural in the manner in which it is executed. Sparhawk begins interacting with the audience, including during a section where he spends a few minutes replacing a broken guitar string with the aid of a pair of glasses lent to him by an audience member. There is a palpable sense of both anguish and, at times, anger, to some of this music, but as the evening progresses it seems to become increasingly clear that this exists inside a wider framework of love, compassion and community. By the final song in the main set – a recent composition called ‘No More Darkness’ – Sparhawk could not be further from the frenzied distortion with which he began things. His vocal delivery is tender and clear, as is the hope inherent in both this song, and the evening as a whole. I leave the concert feeling a huge sense of gratitude that I have been able to experience such a skilled and sensitive songwriter, singer and musician perform.