Low Water CD Review

Low Water twists genres together
(http://www.pittnews.com/arts_entertainment/1.1041237-1.1041237)

Never reject anything just because it has an oldies feel, especially if it’s a CD with a tragically beautiful title.

With its soft mix of drum sets, guitars and keyboards imitating lost rock ‘n’ roll, Low Water holds the power to captivate its audience while making people think about its songs. Its six-track album Twisting the Neck of the Swan hosts a calming array of music that has an old-fashioned feel with a modern spin.

“Voodoo Taxi” starts the band off with a song that takes a different approach to the breakup and good-bye song by using poetic lines rather than whiney pleads: “There’s a whole lot of cobblestone / that ain’t heard an echo in quite some time / so let me lift both hands over your eyes / and see if you can walk a straight line / we could take a voodoo taxi / we could take a voodoo taxi downtown.”

The beat on the first track is addictive, and similarly engaging percussion continues on throughout most of the album. “Go” introduces a cello into the instrument line-up, both setting the beat and a strange tone between the sad string instrument and the cheerier guitar. With the lines, “I will follow high / I will follow low / Choose your token wisely / It’s your time now so go,” this song holds a bit of motivation to get up to try again.

Unfortunately, it’s not always an easy song to understand, seeing as vocalist Johnny Leitera’s voice harmonizes with the instruments to the point of blending in with them. So its message is easily lost on listener’s ears.

“Charge” is the longest track Low Water has to offer, going on for more than 10 minutes and dividing itself into sections. This track has the best music to offer. It starts out by going back to that rock ‘n’ roll feeling the rest of the album hinted at, only to return to its original feeling and mixed instrumental line-up. It changes every couple minutes, bouncing between the two.

The themes of the sections vary as much as the music style, but the very distinct lyric “Your heart’s a missile” does the job of summing up quite a handful of emotions. Also distinct is, “Do I need a charge to carry on my name?”

“Remedy of Lead” concludes everything, but unfortunately, Leitera once again decided to blend his voice with his instruments beyond 100 percent recognition. “I put myself on a river to you” is repeated again and again, although other lyrics change as Low Water shows off its poetry lessons yet again. The lyrics that anyone can catch make up for any loss.

With a classic sound updated with poetic lyrics and atmospherics, Low Water edges on high art.