I've been a bit busy, both with preparing for my defence and also with carousing (seeing as how the thesis is actually, you know, written), but I want to get to another entry soon; today, however, I have a number of things to write for PopMatters. My friend Erik sent me something to tide you over in the meantime, however; a Dutch TV special on Low, You may need a murderer (link is on the right, look for the word 'Low').
It's extremely well done and very interesting (and except for the intro, it's in English, with Dutch subtitles). In fact, anyone who likes Low enough to be reading this will find it's essential viewing. It's, uh, it's pretty harrowing in parts, to be honest, albeit in a very quiet, internal way. And it casts all sorts of interesting light onto various aspects of Low's music; after Alan talks about the levels of alcoholism "and the products thereof" in the area he and Mimi grew up in, hearing him sing a solo acoustic version of "Violent Past" on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota makes me think about the song very differently than I used to. Or actually seeing Mimi and Alan sitting there (in their home?), singing "I Started a Joke." Or the way Mimi looks at Alan as they sing "Little Argument With Myself" in their backyard. Or most stunningly when the filmmaker collapses the live and studio versions of "Murderer."
If this is ever available on DVD, or as past of some future set that corresponds with A Lifetime of Temporary Relief, maybe, I will be purchasing it immediately. Kudos to David Kleijwegt for his fine work.
(Later edit: You may need a murderer is indeed available on DVD now, and I did purchase it as soon as I could.)
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3 comments:
I struggle with Low's Mormonism. The party line responses Alan gives in this doco to the great questions of religion aren't particularly insightful (in particular, the "the good men do is eternal, while the evil is just fleeting and only really hurts those doing the hurting" is one of the most gallingly stupid arguments for anything mankind has come up with), in speech he more or less refuses to engage with the pain and conflict of his music (the filmmaker calls him out here with cuts, most poignantly to "Little Argument"), and the apocalyptic worldview that emerges towards the end is really quite creepy (then again... that's the world I come from).
But after all it's not a sanguine and comfortable man who writes these songs; it's a man who is compelled and perhaps doesn't understand them coherently himself. Hey, such is art.
(in particular, the "the good men do is eternal, while the evil is just fleeting and only really hurts those doing the hurting" is one of the most gallingly stupid arguments for anything mankind has come up with)
I'm not sure I agree with you on that, and I'm not really religious myself.
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