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RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR Call it disappointment, depression or the devil. Whatever internal bitterness that drives men mad, Low leader Alan Sparhawk knows more about it than he’d like. Despite possessing the trappings of a pretty good life—a family, a critically respected band successful enough to support it and a faster, louder one on the side (Retribution Gospel Choir) where he can get his ya-ya’s out—he devotes Retribution Gospel Choir’s 10 songs to harrowing depictions of personal despair. While this is billed at the band’s first album, it stretches to earn the name; its 10 songs clock in at just 30 minutes. But if you’ve ever wished that Low would cut out the slow stuff and just rock out, you won’t have a problem with this record. The only difference between Retribution Gospel Choir’s lineup and Low’s is the presence of Eric Pollard on drums instead of Mimi Parker (Sparhawk’s wife), but the execution is quite different. Instead of carefully crafted, electronically treated settings, you get brute bashing punctuated by big, heroic guitar gestures. Low fans already know that Sparhawk holds a torch for Crazy Horse leads; here, you get a few “Cinnamon Girl”-style pile-ups. Yet it’s not that different. Ultimately, Sparhawk is still calling out his demons and trying to bind them with his guitar strings. [Caldo Verde, www.caldoverderecords.com] —Bill Meyer
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