“Heart Attack“
from the album Low vs Diamond
2008
iTunes
Low vs Diamond is an American band with members hailing from various corners of the country, thus creating a self-described “melting pot” of music. On the band’s self-titled major label debut, you will hear many influences and try to pigeonhole Low vs Diamond into some category or sub-category — but you’ll have a hard time doing that, since what this band does better than most is create an original sound and run with it. More than anything, Low vs Diamond reeks of confidence, and what’s most impressive about the songs on their debut is that they could collectively stand up to anything U2 or Coldplay is releasing today, something you just can’t say about most bands.
Singer and chief songwriter Lucas Fields hails from Seattle, which explains the rainy day feel to a lot of the material, but there are never less than three or four layers to Low vs Diamond’s music. For instance, the opening track, “Don’t Forget Sister,” sounds like brooding singer/songwriter Cary Brothers fronting Snow Patrol. “Killer B” and “Heart Attack” have a retro ’80s thing going on — walls of Fender guitars and vocals, combined with powerful vocals from Fields that resembles INXS during the Michael Hutchence era. “This is Your Life” sounds like a good Coldplay song and has a definitive movie soundtrack feel. But Low vs Diamond has a soft side too, with alt-pop gem “Song We Sang Away” and piano ballad “Annie” being two of the best tracks.
The best part about Low vs Diamond’s debut isn’t that it’s deep enough to play the whole way through without hitting “skip,” it’s the fact that the band was signed to suddenly daring Epic Records and has no regard to try and fit into a genre. They just write the music they want to, and let the natural influences of each band member bring it to life. And sometimes that formula works better than anything that’s forced. Will Low vs Diamond be able to top this stellar debut? For now, it doesn’t matter; there’s still plenty of time to enjoy it.