The Low Anthem – The Salt Doll Went To Measure the Depth of the Sea

Once upon a time, Providence, Rhode Island’s The Low Anthem broke out as part of the alt-folk revival that gave the world the Mumfords and the Sons and the...
The Low Anthem : The Salt Doll Went To Measure the Depth of the Sea
7.1 Joyful Noise
2018 

The Low Anthem : The Salt Doll Went To Measure the Depth of the SeaOnce upon a time, Providence, Rhode Island’s The Low Anthem broke out as part of the alt-folk revival that gave the world the Mumfords and the Sons and the such. But since then and some line-up changes, the group has decidedly charted their own path. Instead of rousing alt-country anthems, they’ve stripped down and deconstructed their own sound. It doesn’t always make for the most accessible music, but the intricacy and skill are there in The Salt Doll Went To Measure the Depth of the Sea.

The Salt Doll, and The Low Anthem in general, are at their best when they try to do most. Opener “Bone of Sailor, Bone of Bird” has a very effective haunting power, while later piece “Gondwanaland” is intimate without being removed. Yet the group can restrain themselves too much, whether the twee strum of “Toowee Toowee”, or slow and distant following “Coral Crescent”. And the deconstruction & reinvention with indietronic notes, while never veering into actual indietronica, doesn’t burst into anything else on “Drowsy Dowsing Dolls”.

Like its long title, The Salt Doll Went To Measure the Depth of the Sea is a carefully constructed artifice, one that isn’t easy to get a handle on, but does reward in its singular way.

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