Who knew it would be such a pleasure to hear Alan Sparhawk-- master of minimalist pop-- rock out with his cock out? Sure, the last two Low albums had downright loud moments, and there's that bluesy side project the Black Eyed Snakes that Sparhawk had a few years back. But on the Retribution Gospel Choir album, the dude channels his inner Crazy Horse with dark dirge-y anthems. He even curses and stuff!
It's taken Retribution a few years to make a full-length; the group's been around since 2005 and have released two tour EPs. Eric Pollard plays drums and new guy (in this band as well as Low) Matt Livingston plays bass, while Sparhawk plays guitar and sings, and he wrote the songs, too. Three aspects of the group's live shows and EPs are missing on their debut. First and foremost, there's singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek, who did produce the record, and it's on his label. But Kozelek was once a member of the band, and his guitar playing is missed (as are a few songs they played with him, notably the great "Hatchet").
Not missed so much are the group's penchant for cool covers (though two songs-- "Breaker" and "Take Your Time"-- could be called self-covers, as they have already appeared on the last Low record). Sure their live take on "Sandinista" is great, but the covers felt like concert or B-side material, so it's good that they realized that. Finally, the group's experimental and dubby aspects are relegated to subtle sound effect elements. That's made the album more cohesive but less diverse than their music is live.
Sparhawk knows how to wring emotional depth out of the most tired lyrical clichés, and he's clearly dissected rock dynamics to the point that when he does them "straight" it's either boring (as on "They Knew You Well") or something to behold ("Easy Prey", "Somebody's Someone"). Songs like "Holes in Our Heads" and "Take Your Time" are dynamic in a loud/louder/soft/loudest way that works well in service of decent songs and melodies. (By now, Mogwai and Sigur Rós devotees have copied those tricks to death-- contemporary math rock is so simple it may as well be called subtraction rock.)
Entire swaths of the Retribution Gospel Choir album are reminiscent of the slash-and-burn imitation classic rock found on the Bush League All Stars' 1995 Pop Narcotic album Old Numbers (albeit with odder tunings). At the time, that fine album sank like a stone in the indie music scene; RGC arrives after a decade's worth of stoner metal has convinced kids it's OK to enjoy back-to-basics riff-heavy rock'n'roll-- even without the irony that was so heavily drizzled atop 80s and 90s revisionings of 70s conventions. To address the album on 70s turf, Retribution Gospel Choir may not be as great as a Neil Young with Crazy Horse album, but it's better than any of the albums Crazy Horse made on their own.
