Event

The Low Anthem

Providence's The Low Anthem combines folk and blues arrangements with the elegance of chamber music and the fervor of gospel. Recently seen in Portland opening for two sold-out shows at Merrill Auditorium opening for Ray LaMontagne, the trio uses a variety of unusual instrumentation "by its own count, the band mates took turns playing 27 different instruments on 2009's Oh My God,Charlie Darwin" that gives its songs, at times, an otherworldly quality. For example, Miller and Prystowsky refurbished a World War I pump organ that had been dragged by chaplains into the battlefield and is now part of The Low Anthem's arsenal of instruments. Adams plays the crotales, a rack of bronze, cymbal-like discs often used with mallets as a percussion instrument. Adams, however, wields a bow to elicit feedback-like sounds. Some critics have called The Low Anthem's sound Americana, but what the group has really done is to conjure a varied and elusive sound of its own. Smart Flesh, the band's followup to OMGCD, is out on February 22.