Alan Sparhawk With Trampled By Turtles – “Stranger”
Alan Sparhawk helped put Duluth, Minnesota on the indie rock map as a member of Low, the band he founded with his late wife Mimi Parker over three decades ago. Though Parker’s tragic passing ceased Low’s legendary run, Sparhawk has continued to do what he does best: create incredibly affecting and poignant music.
Through the web of Duluth’s creative scene, Sparhawk met the local country-folk band Trampled By Turtles years ago. They serve as Sparhawk’s backing band on his upcoming album With Trampled By Turtles, and as lead single/album opener “Stranger” indicates, it’s a sound we haven’t quite heard from Sparhawk yet. “Stranger” filters the band’s bluegrass roots through Sparhawk’s knack for atmospheric, post-rock-inspired arrangements, like if Things We Lost In The Fire took a shot or two of Jack Daniel’s.
“You gotta put up with stranger people than you know now/ You gotta go through some dangerouser things than you thought you’d have to,” Sparhawk croons, so emphatically that the grammar quirks make perfect sense. Sure, it’s smart to make plans, but “Stranger” is a sage reminder to hold on to them loosely. —Abby
