3. Long Division (1995)

The title Long Division foreshadowed a long fascination for Low with math, perhaps an allegory for their Mormon faith and the spiritually inexplicable that transcends scientific explanation. It doesn’t appear explicitly on the album, but on its outtake “Tired,” (which would later appear on the 2004 box set A Lifetime Of Temporary Relief) as Sparhawk confessed, “I’m tired of maths … I’m tired of the past.” There’s little proselytizing here, just a collection of divine torch ballads, from the stunning opener “Violence,” with mordant lyrics that belie its somber beauty, to the deceptively romantic plea for connection “Throw Out The Line.” What’s most remarkable here is the manner in which every note is immaculately placed, without a hint of extraneous fat. Like Raymond Carver’s short stories, this album draws from a somewhat limited palette, but its vernacular is rich and vibrant. The band’s early threadbare aesthetic was a resounding success, and never more affecting than on the sublime Long Division.