The Lowest Pair’s eighth album is a study in a different sort of realism—a warm and knowing embrace of that juncture in your life when you realize, “This is who I am.” Or more specifically, “This is who we are.”
Like most of us, Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee have experienced their share of personal and professional disappointments. They’ve been on the cusp of a breakthrough but never quite scrambled over the hump—or avoided the hump entirely. That hasn’t been the case with critics, who continue to champion the Olympia, Wash., duo’s efforts to tease and tickle roots music into the 21st century. And those heart-worn harmonies continue to mesmerize, with Winter sounding more and more like the long-lost daughter of Victoria Williams.
For Always As Young As We’ll Ever Be (Delicate), the Lowest Pair found a perfect match in Tucker Martine (Decemberists, My Morning Jacket), a producer who always had a knack for accentuating hidden strengths and lending subtle shades of sonic drama without laying it on too thick. The sessions also included fiddle player Leif Karlstrom, bassist/keyboardist Sydney Nash (TK & The Holy Know-Nothings), picker Adam Roszkiewicz (Modern Mandolin Quartet) and drummer JT Bates (Bonny Light Horseman, Bon Iver). Martine does wonders for the duo’s nimble picking, gently chugging rhythms and string-driven arrangements, cultivating a vivid sense of spring-like rebirth that falls somewhere between the backyard herb garden, a swollen river’s edge and the wildflower-blanketed median of a two-lane rural interstate. Rarely has resignation sounded as earthy and exhilarating as it does here.
Here’s more on the LP from Winter and Lee.
—Hobart Rowland
1) “Give It All Away”
Winter: “There’s a practice of non-attachment in Zen that resonates with me, and I’ve noticed a feeling of freedom when things I’ve held too tightly have been let go. This song explores that a bit. It plays with the push and pull of wanting, of knowing, of cycles, of being aware when it’s a beautiful day to enjoy it, and to know that, when it’s raining, there will be sun again.”
2) “Diamonds”
Winter: “In the Northwest, there’s often a low-level marine layer of clouds. We live in ambiguous grays and silvers and emerald greens. It’s not uncommon to get to a trailhead in the Olympics and wonder if you’ll pierce through the clouds. My trail buddies and I tease that we might get above the clouds so as not to discourage ourselves from hitting the trail when the sky is less than blue. The hikes are always bountiful with beauty. Sometimes, up in those alpine fields of fireweed and avalanche lilies, the clouds are indeed below. This song points to the hope that helps you get after it either way.”
3) “Uncertain Seas”
Winter: “I try to be more patient as I’m getting older—and I don’t know if I’m succeeding, to be honest. This song is just fed up with it. I don’t want to wait anymore. I’m tired of waiting. Ha-ha. Trying to learn to be comfortable in the unknowing will likely forever be part of my practice in this lifetime.”
4) “What Is This”
Lee: “This song is about being easy and gentle with those sweetnesses life delivers—be it a moment of calm, a stroke of luck, an exciting prospect, a charming new friend, etc. Leaning in just enough to hold it without squeezing it, just enough to let yourself bathe in the tingling peace and joy of it.”
5) “Tiny Rebellions”
Winter: “This song is a victory dance. It’s a joy … noticing beauty. It’s feeling like you might never love again and then falling again. It’s letting go, it’s renewal, and it’s sexy. This song is that giddy, passionate burst of fluttery heat for second, third, fourth and billionth chances.”
6) “Quantum Physics”
Winter: “I was listening to Krista Tippett’s On Being podcast while she interviewed the Italian quantum physicist Carlo Rovelli. He spoke of his loop quantum gravity theory in terms of kisses and happenings. And it blew my mind. I wrote this song about it.”
7) “Casually Getting The Job Done”
Winter: “I think this song is many minded. There are different stories going on. One is feeling frustrated about unseen emotional labor, or just straight-up unacknowledged work in the mental gymnastics of a complicated relationship. The other is trying to be graceful in it: ‘chop wood, carry water’ vibes. The juxtaposition is there.”
8) “Shitty Light”
Winter: “It would be such a great photo, but there’s shitty light. That’s kind of the theme on this one. It felt extreme to curse, but also the sadness of losing someone you love warrants it. It’s also a hopeful song, trying to let go and get on with the show.”
9) “Spilled The Beans”
Lee: “This one is a sort of ruckus celebration of the heavies—a basement jam at a house party in honor of this too shall pass. ‘Hey, pass me some of that next because we’re all in this together,’ and, ‘I hope to warm your house when I’m set free.’”
10) “Thorn”
Winter: “This song came to me, all melody and words, in a day. It just wanted out. It’s a classic waltz—the rose, the thorn. It’s a little tongue in cheek. ‘I wish you well, and go to hell.’ It’s a practice in letting go, as many of these songs are. It’s really fun to play in open tuning on a hollow-bodied guitar.”
