Is this the best band on earth?

Low:The Great Destroyers

Agreed:pointless question, by all means.A rhetorical question that may serve us well as a starter when it comes to talk about the Duluth-based (Minnesota) trio Low,which have recently honoured us with an unforgettable live performance at Sala Capitol.With a musical career that stretches back to the early 90s, Low have a solid and faithful audience base that continues to grow as they keep churning out album after album of a delicately-crafted music that captivates new listeners who inevitably fall for the charms of this most peculiar band.That their albums are brilliant is a fact few people would disagree with;a careful listen to their latests effort (C'mon) confirms that they have reached a highly creative moment,one of a quiet and unassuming maturity.What I didn't know was how good they could be live.Very rarely a band achieves such level of perfection as Low did last Thursday;a mesmerising show, much to the delight of an almost full venue of loyal and devoted followers.Haunting music that flows naturally and almost effortlessly, filling the room with an air of expectation and restrained tension from the very first note.A pristine sound underpinned a perfect delivery that reached its climax, in my opinion, with the last song before the encore; a majestic version of Murderer from their 2007 album Drums and Guns, whose biblical resonances ('I've seen you pound your fist into the earth/and I've read your book/You may need a murderer/Someone to do your dirty work') made it even eerier and a fitting finale to a flawless performance.Equally fitting was the fact that my friend chose this so intense moment to go to the loo,just as Alan Sparhawk was singing 'You must have more important things to do'; clearly, he had.
They may or may not be the best band on earth (who am I to judge? and who cares anyway?) but Low are arguably one of the best acts around, at the very top of their game.Blessed are those who already know it.