The Low Anthem's Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, was released this week. Rolling Stone places it among "the year's best indie records." The Independent calls it "fascinating" and its opening tune "a gorgeous, fragile piece of work." The Guardian concurs, giving the album four stars and stating: "On the beautiful opener, 'Charlie Darwin,' and the startling 'To Ohio, the Low Anthem evoke a hushed, ethereal transcendence similar to the Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session. These are magical songs laden with imagery and poignancy." You can hear a live performance of "Ticket Taker" and a chat with the band on the latest New York Times "Music Popcast."
The Low Anthem's Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, was released this week. Rolling Stone places it among "the year's best indie records," citing the album's hard-rocking turn on "The Horizon Is a Beltway" as an album standout.
The album opener, "Charlie Darwin," cited on this week's All Songs Considered from NPR as a must-listen, is also a favorite of the press in the UK, where the album will be released on the Bella Union label later this month. The Guardian gives the album four stars, calling attention to the that track and others. "On the beautiful opener, 'Charlie Darwin,' and the startling 'To Ohio,'" writes reviewer Dave Simpson, "the Low Anthem evoke a hushed, ethereal transcendence similar to the Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session. These are magical songs laden with imagery and poignancy, not least the way 'Ticket Taker' inhabits the persona of a boatman as a metaphor for protective love."
Read the four-star album review at guardian.co.uk. To listen to a live performance of "Ticket Taker," tune in to the New York Times's "Music Popcast" at artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com. The band performs the song on the latest episode and talks with the Times's Ben Sisario about the album and its unusual titular reference to Charles Darwin.
The Independent's "Barometer" of what's hot this week calls "Charlie Darwin" "[t]his week's natural selection, a haunting paean to evolutionary debate, sung in other-worldly falsetto."
The paper gives three stars to what reviewer Andy Gill calls a "fascinating" album. "It's a gorgeous, fragile piece of work which has drawn comparison with Fleet Foxes," says Gill of the lead track, "as singer Ben Knox Miller's haunting falsetto sketches the concerns and expectations of a religious refugee setting sail for the new world, anachronistically wondering, 'Who could heed the words of Charlie Darwin / Fighting for a system built to fail?'"
Read the album review at independent.co.uk.
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The Low Anthem is currently on tour, having played opening night of the big Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tennessee, last night and playing again this afternoon. The band celebrates the album release with a performance at New York City's Bowery Ballroom on Monday. For more tour information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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