Double Negative
by Low
  • Record Label: Sub Pop
  • Release Date: Sep 14, 2018
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 63 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 50 out of 63
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 63
  3. Negative: 6 out of 63
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this album

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. AspectWindow
    Sep 19, 2018
    10
    A complete curveball from a band I've loved for a long time. Wrecked lullabies for a world careening out of control. A little bit of a difficult listen, especially at first, but there is still beauty even in Low's most hellish hymns.
  2. maricuir
    Sep 17, 2018
    10
    Ugliness and beauty all the same. My favorite Low album ever. Wonderful surprise for a 12th album.
  3. meninjamatt
    Sep 15, 2018
    8
    Sometimes we appreciate music as a work of art and not what you want to be on the radio. This album isn't for everyone but it has a industrial and minimalistic beauty to it. The vocals on Dancing and Blood are hauntingly beautiful. Some experimentation on certain tracks may feel weird to the listener, for example the vocal fading in and out in Quorum and the static white noise presentSometimes we appreciate music as a work of art and not what you want to be on the radio. This album isn't for everyone but it has a industrial and minimalistic beauty to it. The vocals on Dancing and Blood are hauntingly beautiful. Some experimentation on certain tracks may feel weird to the listener, for example the vocal fading in and out in Quorum and the static white noise present throughout the track. This was the first time i've listened to anything by Low, looking forward to listen to their discography after this interesting album.… Expand
  4. Rob1986
    Sep 27, 2018
    10
    I waited to write a review until after a few listens. This album is better than TWLITF, better than Drums and Guns. If you liked the last album, which I did very much, then think of that style of songwriting overlayed with some buzzy, distorted sorts of textures. Great songs + great sound + inventive production = best ever Low album.
  5. markkowgier
    Oct 26, 2018
    10
    Can you imagine how hard it is to find a fresh take on a familiar sound? Somehow Low manage to pull this off, bringing their classic moody dark feelings into our Dystopian age. Some of the vocal harmonies sound like they could have came of a Bee Gees record ("Fly") which only makes them that more unsettling. A true masterpiece.
  6. erolsabadosh
    Sep 19, 2018
    10
    A hugely significant album from an already consistently brilliant and underrated band. It's certainly the biggest statement they've made since Drums & Guns and perhaps one of their most challenging, but I can't stop listening to it and reveling in it's dense layers and various surprises and interludes. My favorite tracks right now are Quorum, Tempest, Poor Sucker and Disarray but I alsoA hugely significant album from an already consistently brilliant and underrated band. It's certainly the biggest statement they've made since Drums & Guns and perhaps one of their most challenging, but I can't stop listening to it and reveling in it's dense layers and various surprises and interludes. My favorite tracks right now are Quorum, Tempest, Poor Sucker and Disarray but I also like Fly, Always Up and Always Trying to Work it Out. It almost feels arbitrary choosing favorites though as the album really works well as a full listening experience; tracks bleeding and rolling into each other. In terms of sounds it's a mix of experimental and sometimes abrasive elements with the bands typically pristine and delicate vocals twisted and distorted more so than ever before on certain tracks, and quieter and even sometimes more ambient moments yet much of the album is still weighted with a sense of despair and ugliness as a reflection of the current sociopolitical climate. There are moments of beauty, such as the elegant Fly and the grandeur of Always Up, but there's a pervading feeling of fear and sadness. I understand why some people might be put off by it but I'm really enjoying the exploration of sounds and the message in the music. You can tell that a lot of care was put into this and it really paid off in my option; I think it's a truly sensational work of art and a stellar album.… Expand
  7. Josefrijole
    Sep 15, 2018
    10
    I've been a Low fan since the 90s and this may be my favorite album. The rough textures just seem to highlight the beautiful tension of these songs. A hundred listens in and I still find the music more rewarding each time through.
  8. listener
    Sep 21, 2018
    10
    Clearly their best since Things We Lost In the Fire,nothing short of brilliant...yes it's a bold new direction toward glitchy electronic landscapes so they might lose few longstanding fans during the process but the rest of us got something to cherish and celebrate.
  9. almotasim
    Mar 29, 2020
    10
    The great experimental masterpiece they were kind of promising since their debut. Best record I’ve heard in 2019.
  10. zielwolf
    Nov 18, 2018
    10
    To say this album perfectly captures the global zeitgeist is an understatement. It plays out like a grand battle of binaries musically expressed; sounds of decay, distortion and despair constantly threatening to overwhelm the sounds of harmony, beauty and gentleness. But in the end there is no clear winner. It's almost as if the two opposing sides meld into each other, feeding off eachTo say this album perfectly captures the global zeitgeist is an understatement. It plays out like a grand battle of binaries musically expressed; sounds of decay, distortion and despair constantly threatening to overwhelm the sounds of harmony, beauty and gentleness. But in the end there is no clear winner. It's almost as if the two opposing sides meld into each other, feeding off each other. In the end there is, as the title of the last track indicates, disarray; where the double negative in all its obscurant logic finally makes itself heard: "The truth is not something that you have not heard." "This evil spirit man it's bringing me down...They say you let it in when you took the drugs". Sometimes it's like the chaos of the land is a perfect allegory of the chaos within the human soul. And vice versa, "It's not the end, it's just the end of hope" sings Sparhawk on Dancing & Fire and you think you know exactly what he means. This present tumult is the inevitable consquence when the world is painted in absolutes of black & white, either/or. Them versus us. I versus myself. Profoundly political, deeply emotional; a musical masterpiece.… Expand
  11. wollathet
    Sep 29, 2018
    8
    Double Negative is the bands best work since TWLITF and while it maintains a distinct low-fi, `late night' feel to it, the shift towards more experimental glitch is a welcome addition. It remains fairly steady at the beginning with Dancing and Blood featuring a brilliant ambient tone and pulsating bass before dropping into Fly featuring a softer, more ethereal sound particularly in theDouble Negative is the bands best work since TWLITF and while it maintains a distinct low-fi, `late night' feel to it, the shift towards more experimental glitch is a welcome addition. It remains fairly steady at the beginning with Dancing and Blood featuring a brilliant ambient tone and pulsating bass before dropping into Fly featuring a softer, more ethereal sound particularly in the vocals. The curve ball which Tempest throws drops the feel back to Dancing and Blood with a heavy distortion a brilliant dull thud on the bass as it builds towards a glitching outro with uncomfortable clicks. It’s a track where I found myself zoning out and being able to focus only on the music. The second half of the album from Always Trying to Work it out onwards is not ‘easier listening’ but the textures of each track are given more space to breath. Dancing and Fire has more of a return to their previous style than what is found here and much the same goes for Rome. Both stand out in style, but I didn’t find them to be out of place in any way.

    The most striking thing about the album is how well it all fits together despite its frequent and, often sudden, tonal shifts. It can be arresting to drop from one tone to another in a second, but under the vocal processing and distortions, the long drawn out beats and notes, Low remain with a clearly uniform style. It leaves the album feeling like singular piece where you start to notice similar patterns from earlier versus it feeling like a track-then-track album. It gives less of a track in isolation experience.
    It is perhaps their best album to date. The production here is as brilliant as it needs to be, and yet not too polished that it loses the low-fi feel that could have allowed some of the beats to come through more clearly.    … Expand
  12. All_ButTrU4
    Sep 11, 2021
    8
    Fantastic, warm and weird. An artists album. From the alien sound of the instruments or ethereal sound of the vocals. Favourites: rome,always trying to work it out,fly,dissary,quorum.

Awards & Rankings

33
#33 Best Album of 2018
82
#82 Most Discussed Album of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. The Quietus
    Sep 28, 2018
    80
    The songs not only feel like they exist in a vacuum, but that they demand the listener create one too. It’s an important and serious album because it forces you to experience it as one, it asserts itself as the only thing you can concentrate on.
    Read full review
  2. The Wire
    Sep 21, 2018
    80
    Double Negative stands alongside Yo La Tengo’s There’s A Riot Going On as a painfully honest expression of what it’s like to live in a post-truth country and have to call it your own. [Oct 2018, p.58]
  3. AllMusic
    Sep 19, 2018
    70
    Double Negative is a brave and thoughtful collection of songs that lets Low's beating heart scream for its life against a world without compassion, and if it isn't much fun, in 2018 it's truly necessary.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »