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| Version 4 | Version 5 |
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| New Band Up North: Low Duo | New Band Up North: Low Duo |
| (4 months later) | |
| Two brothers: one voice, one guitar. Their sound is raw, emotional and eerie. Vocals, which are full of tenderness, anger and love, meet a guitar that's jangly, upset and just as aggressive. | Two brothers: one voice, one guitar. Their sound is raw, emotional and eerie. Vocals, which are full of tenderness, anger and love, meet a guitar that's jangly, upset and just as aggressive. |
| It's as if Low Duo's music, full of pain and heartache, has been collected into a bottle, sealed and left in a cellar for a while. You can smell love, lost, regret and misery. You start to hear a guitar being strummed softly and a sad voice singing. It reeks of sadness but it's beautiful too. | It's as if Low Duo's music, full of pain and heartache, has been collected into a bottle, sealed and left in a cellar for a while. You can smell love, lost, regret and misery. You start to hear a guitar being strummed softly and a sad voice singing. It reeks of sadness but it's beautiful too. |
| Now a spindly guitar backs a harrowing high-pitched voice. The voice and guitar inside your head gets louder, deeper and angrier. So, you're thinking what's she going on about? But that's how Low Duo make me feel. | Now a spindly guitar backs a harrowing high-pitched voice. The voice and guitar inside your head gets louder, deeper and angrier. So, you're thinking what's she going on about? But that's how Low Duo make me feel. |
| Leigh and Adam Greenwood are two brothers from a small former mining town in South Derbyshire called Swadlincote. They now live in Sheffield and have been there for four years. | Leigh and Adam Greenwood are two brothers from a small former mining town in South Derbyshire called Swadlincote. They now live in Sheffield and have been there for four years. |
| Low Duo came about in 2010 after years playing together in other bands. It wasn't until they decided to be a duo people started to pay attention. After splitting from their last group they realised there were still two gigs to play, one for Sheffield's festival Tramlines, the other at a "crazy London fetish night called Festival Of Sins". | Low Duo came about in 2010 after years playing together in other bands. It wasn't until they decided to be a duo people started to pay attention. After splitting from their last group they realised there were still two gigs to play, one for Sheffield's festival Tramlines, the other at a "crazy London fetish night called Festival Of Sins". |
| Instead of cancelling, they thought: "This could be fun, let's just play on our own." Another last-minute decision was to scrap their old material and write a whole new set of songs. It all paid off and they decided to carry on with their new project, Low Duo. | Instead of cancelling, they thought: "This could be fun, let's just play on our own." Another last-minute decision was to scrap their old material and write a whole new set of songs. It all paid off and they decided to carry on with their new project, Low Duo. |
| Talking to Leigh Greenwood, who sings, he admits in previous groups it was all about chasing a record deal: "It got to a point where we were spending more time emailing than writing. So when we started this we decided it would just be about the music. We'd write songs in our bedroom, record them as fast as we could and just send them out to people." | Talking to Leigh Greenwood, who sings, he admits in previous groups it was all about chasing a record deal: "It got to a point where we were spending more time emailing than writing. So when we started this we decided it would just be about the music. We'd write songs in our bedroom, record them as fast as we could and just send them out to people." |
| This was effective and they caught the attention of BBC 6 Music's Tom Robinson, Guardian's New Band Of The Day genius Paul Lester and a community radio presenter in Sheffield (me). I remember receiving both of their EPs in the post, The EP of Fear and Failure and The EP Of Truth and Regret. On their covers were childlike scrawls done on paint. The first EP had a 2D ambulance on and on the second stood a lonely tree. This has now become quite a trademark and Leigh has designed the artwork, on Paint, for their mini debut album Dive and Slide into The Blue. | This was effective and they caught the attention of BBC 6 Music's Tom Robinson, Guardian's New Band Of The Day genius Paul Lester and a community radio presenter in Sheffield (me). I remember receiving both of their EPs in the post, The EP of Fear and Failure and The EP Of Truth and Regret. On their covers were childlike scrawls done on paint. The first EP had a 2D ambulance on and on the second stood a lonely tree. This has now become quite a trademark and Leigh has designed the artwork, on Paint, for their mini debut album Dive and Slide into The Blue. |
| It's full of songs about losing a lover and how much pain that causes. Leigh explains: "It follows a pretty messy break up I had and is all about picking yourself up and putting yourself back together, so it's quite easily the most positive thing we've done. But it's still really bleak!" | It's full of songs about losing a lover and how much pain that causes. Leigh explains: "It follows a pretty messy break up I had and is all about picking yourself up and putting yourself back together, so it's quite easily the most positive thing we've done. But it's still really bleak!" |
| The way this translates onto the record is through strange metaphors. On Born Into A Spider, the fourth track on the album, Leigh becomes the spider. He talks of losing a "long legged lover" and we hear him almost cry: "I'd lose eight legs to find ya." About a minute in Leigh's vocals are soft, high and beautiful, slightly reminiscent of something Thom Yorke does on later Radiohead songs. | The way this translates onto the record is through strange metaphors. On Born Into A Spider, the fourth track on the album, Leigh becomes the spider. He talks of losing a "long legged lover" and we hear him almost cry: "I'd lose eight legs to find ya." About a minute in Leigh's vocals are soft, high and beautiful, slightly reminiscent of something Thom Yorke does on later Radiohead songs. |
| There's a moment to reflect on what's he's been saying. Adam's soft guitar backs up his brother's melancholy and we hear the two harmonise as the mood changes. It doesn't stay this way for long as Leigh shouts "in pain", "cold rain", and then his voice is low, grungy and angry, as he sings, "My spider heart has been pulled apart." | There's a moment to reflect on what's he's been saying. Adam's soft guitar backs up his brother's melancholy and we hear the two harmonise as the mood changes. It doesn't stay this way for long as Leigh shouts "in pain", "cold rain", and then his voice is low, grungy and angry, as he sings, "My spider heart has been pulled apart." |
| Leigh explains that helplessness and regret are the two main themes that run through all their songs and for him the absence of drums and bass is what makes their sound unique. It's painful, raw, gripping and sparse. Leigh told me they want their music to "grab people emotionally". He believes too that "there's something about the intimacy of one guitar and one voice that adds to the emotional intensity". Something I'd wholly agree with. | Leigh explains that helplessness and regret are the two main themes that run through all their songs and for him the absence of drums and bass is what makes their sound unique. It's painful, raw, gripping and sparse. Leigh told me they want their music to "grab people emotionally". He believes too that "there's something about the intimacy of one guitar and one voice that adds to the emotional intensity". Something I'd wholly agree with. |
| Growing up being influenced by The Smiths, The Velvet Underground and Radiohead has left its mark on Low Duo but the band aren't replicating what's come before, although they're good inspirations to have. They really are doing something different. For this debut they worked with producer Kenny Jones, who's worked with The Smiths, Bjork and Billy Bragg, and what they've produced is outstanding. | Growing up being influenced by The Smiths, The Velvet Underground and Radiohead has left its mark on Low Duo but the band aren't replicating what's come before, although they're good inspirations to have. They really are doing something different. For this debut they worked with producer Kenny Jones, who's worked with The Smiths, Bjork and Billy Bragg, and what they've produced is outstanding. |
| Like their previous EPs it's the fact that just one voice and one guitar can produce something so varied and gripping. Another track on the album that I really love is called Winter. This one is more stripped back and less angry. Folk, minimalist sounds come across and the guitar twangs as the vocals coo with sorrow. | Like their previous EPs it's the fact that just one voice and one guitar can produce something so varied and gripping. Another track on the album that I really love is called Winter. This one is more stripped back and less angry. Folk, minimalist sounds come across and the guitar twangs as the vocals coo with sorrow. |
| At their album launch in Sheffield two weeks ago the pair wandered out into the crowd and played Winter without microphones. Leigh told me "people held the door closed so you could hear a pin drop and we got a huge roar at the end. One of our friends swears he had a tear in his eye." | At their album launch in Sheffield two weeks ago the pair wandered out into the crowd and played Winter without microphones. Leigh told me "people held the door closed so you could hear a pin drop and we got a huge roar at the end. One of our friends swears he had a tear in his eye." |
| As I sit hear listening to their album over and over again I feel sad but stronger too. It's a collection of songs about putting yourself back together again after something terrible has happened. You do exactly what the title suggests: Dive and Slide Into The Blue and strangely feel better for doing it. | As I sit hear listening to their album over and over again I feel sad but stronger too. It's a collection of songs about putting yourself back together again after something terrible has happened. You do exactly what the title suggests: Dive and Slide Into The Blue and strangely feel better for doing it. |
| • Low Duo's debut mini album comes out on 22nd April 2013 and is available to listen below, or at www.lowduo.co.uk | • Low Duo's debut mini album comes out on 22nd April 2013 and is available to listen below, or at www.lowduo.co.uk |
| • There will be no New Band Up North next week, though Emily's regular blog will return on Monday 29 April | • There will be no New Band Up North next week, though Emily's regular blog will return on Monday 29 April |
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