Low at the Union Chapel

Low: A Christmas Performance
Harkin
Erik Koskinen
Union Chapel, 6 December 2016

What could be better for getting into the Christmas spirit than a trip to church to hear some Christmas tunes? Of course the fact that it's the wonderful and cosy Union Chapel and the Christmas tunes in question are courtesy of the bleakly beautiful Minnesotans Low makes it all the more special. Low's 1999 Christmas EP is easily one of my favourite Christmas records ever: even better than the best of Sufjan Stevens' festive releases and right up there with Elvis' Christmas albums. Yes, it's that good. I had never seen Low before this but the location and the fact they were playing this fantastic EP just before Christmas made this show absolutely irresistible to me and one of my most anticipated of the year. And I wasn't disappointed.
When I first entered the beautiful chapel I got the festive feeling right away thanks to the huge, brightly lit Christmas tree to the right of stage. The setting really was absolutely perfect. Luckily I managed to get my favourite seat on a pew close to the stage and the show started early due to the fact there were two support acts before the main event.

The first was a country singer-songwriter called Erik Koskinen, who quietly arrived on stage in plaid shirt and baseball cap and sat near the back of the stage with his acoustic guitar. I enjoyed his set immensely as his brand of old school working-class country sang with a deep voice reminiscent of Merle Haggard, is exactly the kind of thing I love. He reminded me of Richmond Fontaine in their quieter, storyteller moments. He asked us if we had been to the Bob Dylan exhibition of his paintings being held in central London and was met with silence (I, for one, didn't even know it was going on).  "I'm a Minnesotan who has come to London to see an exhibition of paintings by a guy from Minnesota!" he joked. Later Koskinen would return to the stage playing lap pedal steel with Low but his own set was definitely worth hearing.

Next was singer-songwriter Katie Harkin, who immediately took to the stage as Koskinen was exiting (I love it when support acts are this efficient).  Harkin is best known for her band Sky Larkin who I must admit I'm not that familiar with but I have seen her love before albeit as a touring member of the reunited Sleater-Kinney. Harkin is actually a great guitarist (she too would later join Low as part of the band on all their Christmas songs) and her songs are angular-sounding indie pop. The songs sounded good live on just her lone electric guitar but I did wonder how they would sound with a fuller arrangement. I don't think she's released a solo album just yet but it would definitely be interesting to hear her songs in a different context, I've got a feeling they probably really come into their own with a band and some production.

Low quietly take to the stage in lighting so low (ahem) that the audience can barely see them and Alan Sparhawk gently eases his electric guitar into a shimmering sound that echoes around the church as the intro to the haunting The Long Way Around The Sea which sounds more chilling than ever before in this slow live version. It's utterly beautiful, with Mimi Parker's gorgeous harmony vocals. 

In a wave of feedback they segue to the droney Little Drummer Boy, probably the darkest version of the classic Christmas tune ever, but to me it sounds full of holiday wonder as the feedback builds and builds. This is followed by a more traditional take on maybe my favourite Christmas song ever, Blue Christmas, Parker's plaintive vocals filling the little church beautifully.

They then play a song not on the Christmas EP but which could easily have been, Last Snowstorm Of The Year from their 2002 album Trust. It fits perfectly and provides a nice upbeat moment (well, for Low anyway) to the set. Returning to a darker sound they play positively sinister versions of Taking Down The Tree and Santa's Coming Over (a single a few years back and maybe the most scary sounding Christmas song ever, it's undeniably brilliant).  

Rather nicely Sparhawk tells us that Erik Koshinen has written a Christmas song just for this tour and they play the gentle country folk tune with added feedback-fuelled guitar from Sparhawk and some nice harmonies from Parker. At the end Parker jokes "that's the happiest Christmas song you'll hear tonight" but it's actually true.

If You Were Born Today sounds more poignant and relevant than ever (Sparhawk mimicking bombs between words on the lyric "if you were born today we'd kill you by age eight") in light of the conflict going on in Syria right now. One Special Gift sounds sweetly gloomy as you'd expect but the sparsely played hymn Silent Night is absolutely magical played in this beautiful church by light of the Christmas tree. I actually feel a little tearful hearing their moving harmonies, which echo around the rafters and back down again in the candle light.

Ben Watt, best known to me as one half of the duo Everything But The Girl, is introduced as a special guest. He tells us that Alan asked him if he would come down and play a festive-themed song he wrote called 25th December, about the feelings brought on by a family Christmas. It sounds nice enough, especially with Low backing him and helping to make it suitably atmospheric.

Sparhawk is a man of few words but he thanks us for buying the Chrismas record over the years. "It's put a lot of broccoli on the table" he tells us. A lot of that probably has to do with the most played song from the EP, Just Like Christmas, which they of course leave to last and it is a wonderful, joyous way to end the show, well the Christmas part of the show anyway, because they then take a ten minute break and return to play some of their many non-Christmas songs.

I would have been more than happy to end on Just Like Christmas so it was a real bonus to have them return and perform some of their regular set. Most of the songs were taken from their most recent album, 2015's Ones And Sixes, and showcase just how dark, spooky and chilling they can be, with Parker's voice in particular sounding incredible on Holy Ghost and Landslide building to a gorgeous mix of harmonies and feedbacking guitars.

The whole thing ends (no encores of course) on a Christmas tune, their very latest one, Some Hearts (At Christmas Time), a sweetly uplifting tale to send us gently off into the wintry night.