I have watched Brendan play most of the songs on Low at over ten gigs in the last two years. He has played them with a varying amount of accompaniment and often times as solo acoustic sets. It has been a joy to watch those songs grow. You can see the difference yourself by watching the video below of his performance of "Son Of A Gun" for a Dedicated Ears Showcase at the Chopin Theatre almost 2 years ago you can compare it to the newest version on Low. Brendan is joined on this album by John Morton who is Brendan's band mate from the extremely good post rock band Bullets In Madison.
On the opener "Tired From Sleeping" exaspertion is the emotion being transmitted by Brendan. The strings add nicely to the tension.
On "Someone Has Always Got Someone" Brendan is joined by the beautiful voice of Gia Margaret. It's the same story of love not found. The clarinet (that Brendan plays) is a nice harder edge counter to the pretty tone of their voices. I especially like the strings and clarinet at the end. The beginning of "Just Be You" has a familiar guitar and strings that you can hear on a Bullets In Madison song.The loudness picks up halfway through and becomes a driving song.
It's on the slow burner's like "On My Own" that Brendan's voice seems most at home. He has a way of slowing the tempo way down but still infusing the song with a lot of emotion. Add glockenspiel, played by John, and the song starts to shimmer mid way through.
"The One Saying No" is the song on this album that was changed the most from when I saw Brendan perform these songs early on. With it's little string flourishes and driving drum beat, the tempo is turned way up.
I think that having John with Brendan on this album has resulted in a full sounding album that still has Brendan's great songwriting still at the center of it. Brendan is always playing Chicago so check out his facebook page and go see him.
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