So, about the new LOW album that’s out today…
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:25 am | 10 Comments
Officially released today, the 12th of April, 2011 on Sub Pop is Low‘s gorgeous new full-length, “C’mon”. Here’s what it looks like…
So, uh, yeah, I took that photo.
The Minnesota trio has been one of my favorite bands since I fell for their second album, 1995’s “Long Division”, and each of their LP covers has become utterly iconic to me. The fact that a picture I took, and with my low-budget point-and-shoot camera, now graces the front of one of them absolutely blows my mind. If I wasn’t sitting here in sight of a beautiful vinyl copy of the record and a framed poster of the artwork, I still wouldn’t believe this really happened.
If there’s a lesson to be learned in how the hell this came to be, it’s this: Always tag and title your Flickr photos. I assume that’s how Low’s Alan Sparkhawk found this shot (taken at their February 5th, 2005 Somerville Theatre show with Pedro the Lion) and emailed me in December asking if they could potentially use it for the album. “Um, wait, let me think… HELL YES YOU CAN.” I figured it might be incorporated into the design – maybe inside the CD booklet or LP sleeve – but never imagined it becoming the cover. A follow-up February email said, yeah, looks like it’ll be on the front. Here we are in April and I’m holding it in my hands. Surreal seems insufficient.
It feels ridiculous that I was actually paid for the contribution (talk about icing on an already-delicious cake), and that the album ranks among their best work fills me with an enormous amount of joy.
Low plays the gorgeous Paramount Theatre in downtown Boston on Friday, April 29th (tickets here). I’ll be the guy stuck staring slack-jawed at the merch table, still in a state of total disbelief.
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10 Responses to “So, about the new LOW album that’s out today…”
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April 12th, 2011 @ 7:41 am
That’s f’ing sweet.
April 12th, 2011 @ 8:20 am
Very very cool and a nice cover too. I will be checking out this release.
April 12th, 2011 @ 9:50 am
Congrats, Brad! That’s an awesome picture.
April 12th, 2011 @ 11:34 am
Oh cool!
April 12th, 2011 @ 11:34 am
Congratulations Brad, it is a lovely photo too. If it’s possible for me to love Low any more, the fact that they can give some credit to a real fan makes them even better.
April 13th, 2011 @ 10:23 am
Oh that is great. Congratulations.
April 14th, 2011 @ 8:44 am
Thanks, everyone.
April 19th, 2011 @ 1:04 am
OH MY GOD man.. .sooooo rad.
and if you remember me, I used
to email you about bootlegs all
time.. I think you even sent me some stuff..
-Sasha, in san diego
April 21st, 2011 @ 1:45 pm
I was at that show, too! Amazing. And congrats.
April 21st, 2011 @ 1:50 pm
so i picked up c’mon today, knew i had seen that photo before, looked inside and here i am. wished i had checked in here more often, missed that IDA show, dang.
dave
(from the old ida and low listserves)