Last year, Low's Alan Sparhawk released his singular, intense solo debut White Roses, My God. Sparhawk recorded that album while reeling from the loss of his wife and bandmate Mimi Parker, and he found strange and experimental ways to convey that unspeakable feeling. On White Roses, My God, Sparhawk used electronics -- extreme vocal filters, 808s, synth presets -- to make himself sound alien. You can hear all that at work on the heavy-hearted single "Get Still." Now, Sparhawk has shared a very different version of "Get Still," recorded with Trampled By Turtles.
On Friday, Alan Sparhawk will release a new album that's literally called With Trampled By Turtles. If you're unfamiliar with Trampled By Turtles, they're a kind of progressive bluegrass group, and they're big in the jam-band world. Like Low, Trampled By Turtles come from the small city of Duluth, Minnesota. Early in their career, Sparhawk and Mimi Parker acted as mentors for the group. When Sparhawk was mourning Parker, he returned to the stage a few times with TBT. Sparhawk and the band recorded the collaborative LP With Trampled By Turtles last December, and we've already posted the singles "Stranger" and "Not Broken." Now, Sparhawk shares the version of "Get Still" that he recorded with TBT.
The two versions of "Get Still" sound nothing alike. Where Sparhawk transformed his voice into a chipmunk chirp on the original, the new one has his voice in all its craggy glory. Where electronic squalls rose up on the last one, we now hear the welling-up harmonies of his collaborators. The beat comes through banjo and stand-up bass, not through programmed hi-hat skitters. Both versions of the song get the same scraped-raw feeling across, and it's powerful to hear Sparhawk doing it in such massively different ways. Listen to the new "Get Still" and the original one below.
With Trampled By Turtles is out 5/30 on Sub Pop. Read our 2024 feature on Alan Sparhawk here.
