The Death of the Artist - Part II
Ok I have far fewer thoughts on Ryan so this probably won't be as lengthy and complex as my last post. While I do have very strong feelings tied to Low Roar's music, I find there to be a lot less variety in the themes of their songs. Instead, I think about Low Roar's 6-record discography as a demonstration of production, lyrical, vocal, and overall musical growth and development. The skills are honed and sharpened, with A House in the Woods showcasing peak ability and talent, fully realized.
Ryan Karazija, front man and lead vocalist & writer of Low Roar, passed away in October 2022 due to complications with pneumonia.
I started listening to Low Roar between albums 2 and 3, so I got to witness much of the growth and development in real time. The production on Low Roar's self-titled is very bare bones, with limited instrumental or sonic variety. There is some substantial white noise in the background of some of the tracks (Friends Make Garbage, etc.), the instrumentals don't really go beyond synths, acoustic guitar, and percussion, and the vocals are layered very simply. Nonetheless, the record is jam-packed with experimentation and artistic flair. Tracks feel a bit disjointed at times, functioning more individually than they do together. This album functions as a great proof of concept and skill that will develop throughout the coming 5 records, with many tracks that I still regularly listen to. The second album, 0, released 4 years later, showcases a bit more sophistication in terms of the recording. Some tracks are more conceptual, the instrumentation is very complex, and the sound seems to be pushing the potential that was evident on their debut record. Some ideas that were experimented with on their self-titled (ex. layered & pitched vocals on Nobody Else) are expanded upon with more refinement and skill on this album (I'll Keep Coming, Half Asleep). Later on in Low Roar's discography, their albums are all self-contained concepts, telling their own stories. There's evidence of a good number of conceptual ideas on these first two records, specifically with Friends Make Garbage and The Painter, and with In The Morning and Anything You Need. These ideas are contained to one or two tracks, but show clear intent to tell a developed story.
Between albums 2 and 3, the main developments I notice are with the sound and production quality, rather than the lyrics or storytelling. The instrumentals are more streamlined and precise, rather than the uncontrolled, reverberating sound of the instrumentals on the first two records. Still, resonance and longer-echoing instrumentals are used when needed to intentionally recreate the effects that defined the first record, and less so, the second. This instrumental style is very consistently used throughout the rest of their discography, contributing to their ethereal, dream-like sound quality, enhancing the listener's immersion in their mystifying songs. Although the lyrics have less development, it's still noticeable on tracks like Bones, St. Eriksplan, and Gosia. A more distinct improvement is the overall album structure from beginning to end. Strong intro, good run from tracks 2-3 to set the tone, bouncy track 4 before slowing it down in track 5 to lead into the slow, solemn feel of tracks 6 and 7. There's a sharp turn at track 8, the titular Once In A Long, Long While gently waking the listener back up with bouncy synths and rich lyrical imagery. Then, the fall from this glimmering track into the frantic, scared track 9, through the 5 minute choral interlude of track 10, leaving the listener worn out and sad at the sombre, lonely lyrics & instrumentals of the last song and effectively the finale in Track 11, followed by a nice instrumental outro to close out the album on track 12. While albums 4-6 don't follow this exact structure, it's the first to have a clearly established arc throughout the entire album, that we'll see iterations of again in their later works.
Their 4th studio album, "ross." mainly stands as a refinement of the growth and development shown in album 3. It's more concise, feels more deliberate, and a bit more explicit lyrically. As I've mentioned, their previous albums continue to build off of one another, and this is no exception. We get seemingly intentional callbacks to previous songs. If not on purpose, these references at least draw upon the same ideas and concepts that contributed to songs on previous records. I think most tracks from the album have at least one corresponding song from a previous album. Darkest Hour reminds me of Give Up from their self titled, as calm album intros with just vocals and acoustic guitar. Not Around reminds me of Without You from OIALLW, 222 reminds me of Gosia from OIALLW, and Blue Eyes reminds me of In The Morning from 0. I'm not pointing this out to say this album is unoriginal, rather that these tracks showcase the refined skill of Ryan & the rest of the band. The structure is firmly established on this record as the structure records 5 and 6 will follow as well. We have 2 intro songs before we get into the mini arc of HAFH to 222, ending with a climax that moves into Feel Like Dying with contrast that'll give you whiplash. Then, The Machine kind of acts as the default high point on the second half of the album, other than the final track as a grand conclusion, which I think is more climactic in this case. Blue Eyes squeezed in there is a great interlude track as well. Intro, bulk/mini arc, climax, contrasting shift to second half, climax, grand finale. This structure works for so many reasons and creates the perfect conditions for each song to shine on their own, and contribute to the overall story being told. "ross." has overarching themes of love and connection (Darkest Hour, Not Around), self destructive thoughts and behaviours (HAFH, I'll Make You Feel, Feel Like Dying), and self deprecation/hopelessness (222, The Machine, Slow Down, Blue Eyes, Empty House). It showcases some truly unfortunate thought patterns that reflect how grim a person's own depressed mind can become. Still, at the heart of this album, is a sense of longing, desire, and love. The warmth blankets the whole record, and burns hot on some tracks. There's no happy ending or light at the end of the tunnel, but the listener is left with a wall of sound and the distraught vocals of the last lines of Empty House.
I'm gonna talk about albums 5 and 6 in another post because they're my favourites and there's no way I can be concise about them. That said, the developments just from albums 1 to 4 in writing style, sound engineering, vocals, etc. showcase incredible growth in Low Roar's artistic capabilities. While there has always been a vision and artistic prowess noticeable in their work, album 4 really showcases how cohesion between all tracks on a record can elevate even the individual tracks. The defined perspective and overarching narrative of the album as a whole can be picked up on from any individual track, while each track still stands on it's own. By album 4, Low Roar has a very thoroughly established sound, vocal and instrumental style, and tendency towards storytelling that is finally close to reaching it's full potential. Album 5 exemplifies all of this in an overt, theatrical narrative style, and album 6 demonstrates an incredibly refined perspective that is honest, insightful, and abstract enough to show off their expert writing skills. I'd describe album 5 as a final thesis, to check all the boxes and exhibit skill and technique, while album 6 is the true apex of Low Roar's style and artistic craft, standing firmly as their best work.
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