Review Summary: Low Roar, with possibly the best album of 2014, takes you on a breathtaking journey through love, loss, and life. Steel yourself for the devastating cold and marvel at its beauty.
If our dreams are a ship and our heart is a map, then why do we lose our way？ Are we vulnerable because we love, or do we love because we are vulnerable？ Perhaps it is inevitable that we find ourselves lost at sea.
Such is the ethos of Californian turned Icelander Ryan Karazija, better known as Low Roar. While he's received little attention from the press, outside of a feature in Hideo Koijima's "Death Stranding," he isn't a musician to be missed. His self-titled debut demonstrated a real gift for the melodious songwriting common in the indie folk scene - a sweet and dreamy record that teased his skill in polished production. But in 2014 it was made clear that Low Roar has so much more to offer; demonstrating his full instrumental and production ambitions with the chilling, lush, and atmospheric "0."
What "0" succeeds at is its effective synthesis of sweet, melodious songwriting and sprawling, ambitious soundscapes. It explores themes of loss, isolation, love, and the mis-steps we make in its name. The result is an intensely personal record that captures the tangible delirium brought about by these emotions - rather than just lamenting *about* them. It is melancholy pushed to the point of psychosis.
"Breathe in," the opener, gently lulls you into this head space. You are in an echo chamber. And you are cold. Gentle, meandering strings, sparse guitar work, and layered vocals sway back and forth speaking of a mind under pressure by dreams and time - almost as if it were a lullaby. Clearly drawing influence from Post Rock, the closest thing to a chorus repeats the mantra "breathe in" as you sink into the fog.
This introduces you to the album's key theme, which is the dreamlike state you find yourself in when engulfed by an uncertain and unrequited heart. Tracks such as "Half Asleep," "Phantoms," and "Dreamer" are direct allusions to this - and they transport you there using shimmering synthesizers, swelling strings, and delicate guitar work to their fullest effect. While the record shares a lot of DNA with the Post Rock of Sigur Ros & Godspeed You Black Emperor it spends more of its time infusing its soundscapes with sweet harmonies and haunting lyricism than it does building up to large crescendos. But when it does the results are magnificent.
On the aforementioned "Phantoms" echoing sweet vocals glide over a thumping beat that gently buries you between melodica flourishes and trancelike synths. And once the burial completes the beat cuts out and the song bursts open, overflowing with stunning guitar leads, ice-tinged chimes, and breathtaking vocal choruses. This is the first gasp of that clean cold air; the sun finally peeks through the clouds and you can nearly see your breath on its bright, brilliant rays. You might be reminded of the climax of Radiohead's "How To Disappear Completely," but even Kid A's peak doesn't manage to reach these towering heights.
That said, for all its ambitious and atmospheric production there are a number of strikingly sweet melodies nestled in the corners of this spacious record. "Nobody Loves Me Like You" is a highlight. It explores the intersection of platonic & romantic love - and the crushing loss one can experience at the hands of distance and time:
"Waiting for the other to break or bend..."
"Oh darlin' sometimes there's no such thing as more than friends..."
"Let's save what we can before it ends..."
The tension between the subject and Karazija comes crumbling down in the face of the sheer emotional gravity of their circumstance. It leaves you in the cold, desperately kissing a lover that will never be. This isn't a plainly emotional attempt at navigating the fog of these feelings, this is a work that embraces what it means to be lost at sea.
On the other side of the coin, "0's" consistent dreamlike quality is a bit of an Achilles' heel. It generally manages its length well, but like many dreams "0" can drag on a bit longer than necessary and feel unfocused at times. But this flaw, which doesn't begin to set in until the final leg of the record, seems to resolve itself. Largely because it aligns well with the overarching themes of the record. It contributes to the delirium, if not in the most graceful manner.
The album's length is a product of its unique Post Rock influences, which may test the patience of some listeners, but the melodies are inviting enough for most listeners to lose themselves in "0's" carefully crafted depths. Despite this bit of sluggishness and mixed Post Rock - Dream Pop identity "0" is one of the best albums either genre has to offer. It is, without a hint of cliche', a stunningly beautiful record. It isn't afraid to immerse you in the iciest depths of love as a human experience, rather, this is precisely where it finds its beauty. And if a bit of dreamlike fatigue is what it takes to experience such a terrible beauty then it is almost certainly worth it.
