Alan Sparhawk, EartH Theatre review - an absorbing game of two halves from the former Low mainstay

For the first half-hour of this show – on the day before the release of his new album Alan Sparhawk With Trampled by Turtles – Alan Sparhawk moves ceaselessly. Whirling, arms sweeping like the sails of a windmill, gliding across the stage. He sings, his voice treated: auto-tuned, pitch-shifted. The only breaks come with momentary pauses to set rhythm tracks for the next song. Then, off again.

His old band Low – abruptly terminated with the death in 2022 of his wife and musical partner Mimi Parker – were often dubbed “slowcore.” Minimalist yet always primed to create a huge sound they were not about foregrounding beats which moved body and feet, even when, as it had been latterly, electronica was incorporated. However, when Sparhawk re-emerged on record with last autumn’s solo set White Roses, My God, electronica was fully embraced; dance-inclined electronica. Tonight, the album’s “Project 4 Ever” is more acid house-shaped than it was on the album, and the presence of Sparhawk and Parkers’s son Cyrus on bass guitar and former Low keyboard player Eric Pollard on drums is integral to what’s fashioned here. It’s impossible to avoid noting that this a three-piece, as Low was. Especially when Sparhawk picks up his guitar.

'Heaven' could also be sung in a place of worship

The opening 30 minutes draw from and are in line with White Roses, My God: “Get Still,” “I Made This Beat,” “Can U Hear,” “Station,” “Brother,” “Project 4 Ever.” It is intense. Sparhawk is within himself – apart from when he has to fiddle with equipment, that is – and untrammelled. His presence borders on threatening. Or is it a manifestation of barely contained grief?

Contrast this recapitulation of White Roses, My God with the rootsy new ...With Trampled by Turtles album. Made with long-time friends and fellow Duluth, Minnesota residents, the folk-disposed bluegrass outfit Trampled by Turtles it is more in their world – despite the odd flashes of country displayed by Low – than the one typically identified with Sparhawk. There is a Neil Young flavour. It is an affecting, lovely album. As with White Roses, My God, expressions of grief are integral. It also features alternate versions of “Get Still” and “Heaven,” each first heard in radically different forms on White Roses, My God.

At East London’s EartH Theatre, after “Project 4 Ever” Sparhawk picks up his guitar for “Heaven.” Supplementing the versions on the two albums, here is a short, sparse third take on the song. Sparhawk focuses his now-untreated voice on the melody. This could also be sung in a place of worship. It is the most astonishing tonal shift from what has been going on up to this point.

Following this, the guitar stays on for the Neil Young-ish “Screaming Song” from ...With Trampled by Turtles. Next, “JCMF” (i.e.: Jesus Christ Mother Fucker) with its stop-in-the-tracks lyrics: “When Jesus comes back, he’s gonna open all the graves, when Jesus comes back, all you motherfuckers gonna pay.” Atmospherically, with the throbbing bass guitar and rain-on-a-window drums, tonight’s “JCMF” has similarities with the California of the Sixties: of The Doors’ “The End,” The Serpent Power’s “Endless Tunnel” and Country Joe and the Fish at their most quicksilver. Later, during the lengthy, very powerful “Poor Man’s Daughter,” Sparhawk’s tempestuous playing evokes that of Quicksilver Messenger Service’s John Cipollina.

Alan Sparhawk is not one for on-stage chit-chat

When “JCMF” ends Sparhawk addresses the audience properly the first time. A little earlier, there had been a muttered recognition of problems with his effect pedals. “That was awkward, sorry.” Now, he says “how’s everybody doing, this is the official place where I should talk.” He goes on to acknowledgements and expressing his liking for the venue. Really, though, he is not one for on-stage chit-chat.

“JCMF” represents the fluidity Sparhawk is embracing. It was in the repertoire of Retribution Gospel Choir, a trio Sparhawk had in parallel with Low. Retribution Gospel Choir’s drummer was Eric Pollard. Its appearance is analogous with “Get Still” and “Heaven” cropping up on both White Roses, My God and …With Tramped by Turtles. Songs from one context end up in another. In this spirit, “Poor Man's Daughter,” played this evening, is another Retribution Gospel Choir song. “Get High,” also in the set, was recorded by Derecho Rhythm Section, the funk band Sparhawk has played in with Cyrus. Another noteworthy aspect of this all-encompassing outlook is the encore’s “Walk Into the Sea,” which closed Low’s 2005 album The Great Destroyer. Here, it is also a conclusion.

Drawing conclusions about Sparhawk’s future direction from this commanding show would be foolhardy. White Roses, My God is here. So are songs from the exceedingly dissimilar Alan Sparhawk With Trampled by Turtles. There is material from other strands of Sparhawk’s journey through music, including Low. He’s also played blues/sludge rock with The Black-Eyed Snakes and cropped up in Cyrus Sparhawk’s house-ish, funk-edged band Damien. Right now, it looks like he doesn’t want to be pinned down. Even so, the combination of his assuredness and charisma ensures that what might not work due to the aesthetic disjunctions crystallises into a singular whole. The only inference to draw from this show is that, musically, whatever Alan Sparhawk turns his hand to will be as compelling as this extraordinary live outing.

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