Secret Name by Low

Secret Name, Low's fourth album, came out in 1999 as the Duluth, Minnesota band's first release on Kranky, and it's as hushed and heavy as anything the slowcore pioneers ever made. Steve Albini recorded it at Electrical Audio in Chicago, and the room is left to breathe, so every snare hit and every held note hangs in the air like breath on a cold window.

Alan Sparhawk on guitar and his wife Mimi Parker on drums trade and twine their voices in those slow, aching harmonies, while bassist Zak Sally keeps the floor steady and even breaks out an Optigan on a few tracks for a ghostly glow. The title comes from a line in "Weight of Water". "Immune" is the song that crept onto the countdowns, and Things We Lost in the Fire followed.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.