THIS IS THE 2011 US REPRESSING on PLAIN RECORDINGS label. STILL IN SHRINK SINGLE COVER + HYPE STICKER. The cover is in EX condition, normal wear and without any major deterioration, BUT light discolouration/wear on right corners + some marks on right edge (where missing shrink), left spine is fully readable; for details see photos (with and without flashlight). The vinyl is in VG+ condition (some clicks at the start, mild crackles due to pressing) and plays wonderfully. RARE

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LOW

Formed in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1993, Low were perhaps the slowest of the so-called "slowcore" bands; delicate, austere, and hypnotic, the trio's formative music rarely rose above a whisper, divining its dramatic tension in the unsettling open spaces created by the absence of sound. The group initially won over listeners and critics with music that was dramatically spare and keenly focused on the dynamics of their performances. This era peaked with 1999's Secret Name and 2001's Things We Lost in the Fire. Once Low signed with Sub Pop Records, they embraced a fuller sound and a more diverse approach, including expanded instrumentation (2005's The Great Destroyer), pop-accented production (2011's C'mon), and experiments in discordant electronics (2021's Hey What), with the harmonies of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker serving as their aural constants. Initially comprising the husband-and-wife team of guitarist/vocalist Alan Sparhawk and drummer/vocalist Mimi Parker, along with bassist John Nichols, Low began as an experimental reaction to the predominance of grunge. Producer and Shimmy Disc Records founder Kramer soon invited the group to record at his Noise N.J. studios, and the resulting demos earned them a deal with the Virgin-distributed Vernon Yard label.

"LONG DIVISION"

<reissue, originally published 1995>

LP    PLAIN RECORDINGS RECORDS    plain171  

PRINTED IN U.S.A.    2011 REPRESSING

IN SHRINK SINGLE SLEEVE + '180 GRAM VINYL' HYPE STICKER

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Barcode: 646315517118

LABEL: PLAIN RECORDINGS - BLACK LABEL - WHITE TEXT

Catalog on cover: (spine) plain171

Catalog on labels: plain171

Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): PLAIN-171-A G-2 RM S-76741 RE-1

Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): PLAIN-B G-2 RM S-76742 RE-1

On labels: ℗&© 1995 Vernon Yard Recordings.........from EMI Music Licensing.

On Back Cover: Tracklist + Credits

℗&© 1995.........

Side A: VIOLENCE - BELOW & ABOVE - SHAME - THROW OUT THE LINE - SWINGIN' - SEE-THROUGH

Side B: TURN - CAROLINE - ALONE - STREETLIGHT - STAY - TAKE

RECORD VG+ but (please, read above description)

SLEEVE EX but (please, see pictures and read above description)

With the molasses-slow ringing of the opening chords of "Violence," Low arrived. The Duluth, Minnesota band had formed two years earlier in 1993, and issued its quietly joyful debut, I Could Live in Hope, in the interim, but sophomore record Long Division saw the band stripping down its already unprecedentedly spare instrumentation to create an atmosphere so lonely, patient, and narcotic that the album created the sensation of being awake in a sad-hearted dream. On their debut, Low's sound was informed by their minimal instrumentation, with guitar, high-register bass notes, and a two-piece drum kit providing the backdrop for Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's angelic harmonies and Kramer's spacious production. The songs on Long Division take that minimalism even further, slowing the tempos and implementing so much negative space that the instruments sometimes fade into complete silence in the space between sparse notes or drum hits. The otherworldly slowness of songs like "Shame" and "See-Through" are representative of the radical amount of space that defines the album, gliding gracefully as a falling leaf floating slowly on the wind. Low were born out of a reaction to the aggressive trudge of early-'90s grunge, so the songs are slow but never plodding. A song like "Turn" begins with a somewhat menacing lurch, but slowly blooms into a mysteriously hopeful climax. Contemporaries like Red House Painters and especially Codeine worked in similar muted colors and pensive tempos, but Low managed to exist outside of the often depressive themes of their peers. Practicing Mormons, Sparhawk and Parker often intoned their understated songs with vaguely religious undertones, hinting at retribution and redemption with foreboding atmospheres and heavy vibes more than overtly cautionary lyrics. The combination of Low's groundbreaking approach to elongating traditional pop music structures paired with Kramer's equally extreme reverb and Echoplex colorings congeal into one of Low's most brilliantly atmospheric statements, and perhaps the most dire in what would be a career that spanned decades. Long Division is a masterwork, somehow simultaneously achieving lushness and emptiness, embodying hope and heartbroken despair with equal force...(AllMusic)