Things We Lost In The Fire

Loved this. The dreamiest of indie dream pop. I could sit in this vibe forever. Rating: 5 Playlist track: Sunflower Date listened: 15/12/24

Absolutely beautiful album, I love Low and this is probably my favourite album of theirs. Easy 5 stars, thanks to whoever added this one.

I'm a Minnesota guy so these are my people, and I always liked Low. I last saw them live in the early 2000s, actually might have been touring this album? Very sad to hear Mimi Parker's lovely voice and be reminded of her absolutely tragic, far too early death. This goddamn world.

I do a horrible job of keeping up with the user albums, but I still check regularly, and as someone that was only really familiar with their final album, the tragic passing of Mimi, and recently saw Alan perform live (opening for GY!BE), I’ve been meaning to check out their earlier stuff and I’m glad you got me to do it!

This was really excellent. Haunting and elegant, if a bit slow moving at times. Fave Songs: Like a Forest, In Metal, Sunflower, Dinosaur Act, Whitetail, Laser Beam

In the right setting, this slow, harmonious, quiet, and deliberate album is just perfect. Dark, but beautiful in its minimalism

Not the Low album I would have picked (that being I Could Live In Hope, or even Double Negative), but then they don’t have a bad pick! Glad to revisit this once more 🙏

Truly great indie rock album. All songs are beautiful and Sunflower is sublime.

I'd heard of Low when one of their members passed away, unfortunately. I briefly checked out "HEY WHAT" after, because I found the name funny, but didn't dig more beyond that. This is right up my alley. I think the one thing holding me back from shouting praise from the rooftops is it's a little one-lane. There aren't any real heavy tracks here, and that's clearly by design. It's slow, thoughtful. It's very good. Call it a 4.5. Favorite tracks: "July", "Sunflower", "In Metal"

A band I knew by name, but hadn't listened to a full album by. A worthy addition to the list; the only surprise is that it wasn't there already. Sounds slightly out of time, in relation to the rock music that was charting around the same time, but has a timeless quality as a result.

Perfect for certain days. Today happens to be one of those days. Great share.

This is really nice. When I saw "Low" the first thing that came to me was that song by Cracker, although I couldn't remember who sang it or whether the song was called that or the band, so that was what I was expecting going in. Thank goodness it wasn't that. This is mellow, somber, melancholic, and beautiful. Will listen again. 4 stars.

Beautifully sparce but driving sounds with a grundgey backbone

June 1, 2025 HL: “Sunflower”, “Dinosaur Act”, “Laser Beam”, “Embrace”, “In Metal” First Low album! Better than I expected, quite haunting at times. I figured it would be a depressing hour, but I find my spirits picked up after listening.

Low is one of those bands who I constantly do a disservice to by not remembering how excellent and varied their discography is. While I prefer the more experimental, uptempo outings as of late, this band always LPs straight from the heart – there's not a second on this album that doesn't feel genuine and crafted with care. Nice to hear a band out there that's still making music for music's sake, great add!

The Things We Lost In The Fire is time, and the time it takes to take it, doubling down on itself and making you tally the seconds ticking on the clock. *Slowcore*, a tag Low was said not to be at ease with, and yet the best one we have to articulate the magic of their music. You slow down your bodily rhythms until they fit with each movement of the needle. The one stuck to the long groove on your record, here spinning in front of your hypnotized eyes. And the one gently bouncing on the wall as each second is counted. The Things We Lost In The Fire is the chiaroscuro wonder of songs that could be either sung as a lullaby to the little ones or as a paean to the moon, howled by gentle and sad creatures of the night. The Things We Lost In The Fire is the infinite melancholy and the delicate touch of the band as they handle their instruments -- here helped by a bunch of guests that all bring their incredible skills to the same goal: awe you, finding your soft spot, make you shudder, make you cry -- as long as you open your ears and your soul enough. The Things We Lost In The Fire is family memories, demonstrations of faith, tender acts of love, sudden moments of defiance, elegiac folk hymns to the present time... Sometimes they're conveyed through a walk in mysterious, hazy woods, where everything feels so ethereal you could think you're strolling on the lunar surface ("Whitetails" or "Embrace", foretelling through analog aesthetics the barren digital landscapes of *Double Negative* and *HEY WHAT* two decades later -- hereby proving how consistent Low has always been in spite of the many stylistic turns during their perfect career). Other times those emotions are served courtesy of a generous array of heartbreaking melodies and subtly climactic surges ("Sunflower", "Dinosaur Act", "July", "Like A Forest", "In Metal"). The Things We Lost In The Fire is Steve Albini and how his ethos, recording methods and sound aesthetics simply transcend each and every detail in this extraordinary record. Steve has recorded so many pivotal albums from great acts it is easy to lose count of them. But by my book, this LP is among the ten best records he has ever "non-produced". Rest in power, Steve. The Things We Lost In The Fire is Mimi Parker's voice, soft and yet always self-assured, the mossy rock over which Alan Sparhawk's own gentle vocals anchored themselves so tirelessly, husband and wife harmonizing on eternal songs filled with longing, pain and relief, either mystical or deeply humane. I want to believe that when the world lost Mimi, God was the first to cry -- and if not him/her/them, whatever higher power in the skies had the sheer luck of hearing those songs through the static routinely sent from our forlorn planet. Whoever you are, you who chose this record for this list, and wherever you are -- whether on the snowy plains of Minnesota or lost in the outback in Australia... thank you. I don't need any pretext to spin this LP, just like the vast majority of the other Low albums you can find in their discography. But I think I needed to hear this one today. Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 26 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 37 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 67 --- Émile, j'ai mis ma dernière réponse sous l'album de The 1975 au dessus...

One of my favorite bands. Love the dreamy feeling.

Whether intentionally or not (I suspect it’s intentional), many of the additions to the user list underscore just how poorly the main list covers indie and alternative music from the mid 90’s and early part of this century. I don’t know enough Low to say whether this is the best choice for the list, but “Things We Lost in the Fire” was such an excellent record I’m going to I’m going to dive in and explore it further. This is a great record for an early fall evening near a campfire: with its slow tempo, it creates a haunting, meditative atmosphere to get lost in.

I've been meaning to listen to more Low and it definitely didn't disappoint. Slowcore is a really cool genre and Low are pretty much THE slowcore band and it's clear why.

I was familiar with Low from their 1999 Christmas album. I love the song “Just Like Christmas.” This album was much more down - had a very depressing tone. Still, I did like it overall. Just not the best music for playing at the gym.

Get low with Low

Now this is the right type of music for someone who just had their heart broken. Melancholy dream pop that’s vaguely sad but still easy to listen to.

I really like this- laid back, pensive and low-key music. Dare I say Post rock? I'll listen to this again.

My introduction to Low was their 2018 chilling ambient masterpiece Double Negative, and then their 13th album HEY WHAT (which is now sadly their final album after the death of vocalist and drummer Mimi Parker the following year). I’ve been meaning to check out their earlier work for a while so this was a long-overdue recommendation This was a more straightforward indie rock record on the whole but with that pervasive melancholy tone and a lot of really beautiful melodies and harmonies seeping through. I enjoyed this a lot and imagine it’s one I’ll get even more out of on future listens

This was nice. Felt like they were doing their own thing. I enjoyed the melodies, though it seemed the best ones faded with the second half of the album. I’ll enjoy re listening. 4/5

Den här plattan har potential. Kanske något för soft. Bästa låten är whitetail. Får nog ge plattan några lyssningar till.

Absolutely loved this, a very strong 4

This was another album that just kinda slowly grew on me. I didn't think all that much of it at first, but the vocals end up being consistently good across the album, and the music is always right there to match it. It's not overwhelming, but there's a lot here. 4/5

Whilst American indie rock is to the listener list as 1967-1970 rock is to the main list, this still felt like a decent addition, and was a much easier hour than I anticipated

I wish I could get into this one but I just could not. Slow and boring

Did not set my world on fire,

Having difficulty moving through this album. Might be me. Might be the album.

Really fun dream poppy stuff. Right up my alley. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

I'm a fan of Low as every sane person that walks on Earth, but I just can't understand how are you able to listen to their whole album in one sitting if you're not fully depressed already. Great songs, great style, but one track at the time, couple days break, and then another one. In limited exposure - I love it.

Rating: 6/10

A very chill little album that was quite beautiful but did not leave a huge impression on me. May be a tougher nut to crack.

Slow and depressing. How I like 'em.

Hmm

Eh, average. 3/5.

Not sure how this would be justified as a worthy of the list. It is easily approachable, but ultimately just pleasant and uneventful. Somewhat peaceful background music, but i didn't really find much engagement.

Yeah, pretty good

Yea, not bad

Never heard this before, it was good

Slow and low

This is well constructed and does what it does well. Lummy, it's not exactly perky though, is it?

I generally like Slowcore and depressing slow indie rock in general, but Low never really did anything for me. "Sunflower" is an all-timer, "Embrace" and "In Metal" are also great, but I don't love the whole thing as much as I probably should.

Pretty good

Low is the perfect name for a slowcore band. It's an interesting style, too, with much of it feeling very stripped and raw. "Things We Lost In The Fire" was a bit too low-key for me much of the time, but some of Low's other work pick up the tempo or rhythm just a hair for a better effect.

One has to be a lover of dirges (and then some) to get into this record, which takes its time and forces listeners to wait … and wait … and wait for songs to develop and/or resolve and/or get anywhere, which not all of them do, being borderline catatonic. This is slowcore that mighta benefitted from a bit more shoegaze (or at least rhythm), though full marks to them for doing something (at least a little) different (though not as well as Cowboy Junkies, say) and mostly sticking to it with subtle gradations of progress over time. Caveat: one was once haunted by this record whilst listening far from home and on quite a long journey, but listening today, decades removed and with a good bit more objectivity, with one’s proclivity toward panic attacks and nervous breakdowns mostly mitigated, one finds it mainly dull if arty and intermittently interesting, if too long and insistently — excessively — dirge-y. Vocals – especially the male’s – are a problem; in some cases (e.g., “Embrace”), it’s not clear they’ll make it to the end of the song without nodding off. Similarly, the glacial pace leads one to wonder if they are finished learning how to play their instruments. “Like a Forest” and “In Metal” (which comes to life with fairly straightforward strummings pushing it just a touch more upbeat) are best cuts, which suggests waiting (and waiting) does deliver at least some payoff in the end. Makes sense for this to be recommended – one likes it better than say Beach House or The XX, though I Could Live in Hope seems a bit better, purer somehow, and more atmospheric.

The whole album, I thought something was missing. But at the end, on "In Metal", I heard what I was waiting for all along. Some build-up and a bit of 'schwung' as we like to say here.

Slowcore, dream pop. Rollo. Un 2.

It started out pretty interesting, but as it progressed I lost it. Just like the name of the band is LOW, and it even seems like music that invites you to relax and sleep.

It's very low

I get that the plod of the thing gets across the heavy emotions and such, but this album tired me more than anything else.

A tense and harrowing album compared to most. The soft indie style works for the album as the lyrics are dark and the singers present it well. Overall this isn’t an album that I really enjoyed or would want to listen to again. But pretty decent. 5.0/10

Hmmm... not really what I thought I expected from an indie album, but I guess that's the point. Whitetail didn't really do a whole lot for me. And it didn't really seem to get much better from there.

So so

Sounded a lot like the small band that plays at a bar late at night in a small town. That can be a good or a bad thing depending on the mood.

Despite 2 or 3 good songs that caught my attention, it's, in general, a quite boring album to me.

Hmmm, not great, a bit boring. I'm not against this kind of music and it shares stuff with bands I like but I just found it a bit dull.

Found this quite slow and mopey. Not in a good way as obviously melancholic music can be amazing...

God Things We Lost In The Fire is boring. It's just so drab, doesn't even get bad enough to dislike it. The beigest of 2/5s.

so so so sad. I don't enjoy listening to this, but some do apparently. 2

Had to pause this and I don’t think I’ll be going back. Droning chill alternative for alternative’s sake is what I feel like

just an album of bummer songs.