The Low Anthem - 'Smart Flesh' (Bella Union) Released: 21/02/11

For a band as unique-sounding as The Low Anthem – previous album ‘Oh My God Charlie Darwin’ was a mixture of rollicking bluegrass, haunting hymns and gentle lullabies – the directional possibilities for each succeeding record must be endless. Radiohead enjoy the same freedom, the fact that there is no precedent for their music meaning they are not dragged into following any pre-ordained path.

In some ways, ‘Smart Flesh’ takes the more challenging option; instead of a change of direction to underline the fact that this is something new, the band have captured the essence of what makes them who they are, distilled it, and spread it through eleven new tracks which, while unmistakeably The Low Anthem, are subtly different from their predecessors.

This effect has been brought about in large part by recording most of the material in a large, disused pizza factory, and positioning microphones both near and far from their amplifiers. The result is marked, creating at the same time an intimate yet cavernous sound, as if the band are huddled together playing in a tiny underground alcove while the music echoes around endless miles of caves around them.

‘Ghost Woman Blues’ gives a snapshot of what is to come from the start, featuring trademark vocal harmonies led by a funereal piano which conjures up the tomb-like scene in which the subject might be set.

The bluegrass folk of ‘Apothecary Love’ is followed by ‘Boeing 737’, an gargantuan tune of Arcade Fire-like proportions which is as era-defining as anything The Low Anthem have committed to record yet, and is probably the jewel in this album’s crown.

The inclusion of ‘Boeing 737’ provides a marked contrast to the tracks that follow, some of which are the most understated the band have produced. ‘Matter of Time’ is of particular note, a love song in which Ben Knox Miller seems to have reached down to the bottom of his heart to produce the low register the vocal line requires.

Later, ‘I’ll Take Out Your Ashes’ could be the widow’s heartbroken answer to Bob Dylan’s far more bleak ‘See That My Grave Is Kept Clean’. There is still a chance to rock out with ‘Hey, All You Hippies’, which could almost be The Low Anthem’s very own anthem, while ‘Wire’ is a departure as an instrumental, but a distillation of their signature sound nonetheless.

The title track closes the album, and at seven and a half minutes is sweepingly conclusive, and could proudly be the swansong not just to an album, but to a whole career. With The Low Anthem in form like this, let’s hope for all our sakes that the latter is not the case.