It would be an overstatement to liken the 41 minutes and 22 seconds spent listening to Drums and Guns as an ordeal. Yet one blogger felt that anything over that would have resulted in them losing the will to live. And that blogger was a Low fan.

Where once husband-and-wife duo Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk’s stark vocals, backed by sparse drumming from Parker and muted bass defined Low’s music, their eighth studio album sees them expand into new sonic territories. Unlikely as it may appear, Sparhawk has been a longtime enthusiast of dub. And this genre makes an appearance on Drums and Guns, along with electronica and what sounds like an angry wasp on opener ‘Pretty People’.

Producer Dave Fridmann, the unofficial fifth member of The Flaming Lips, also plays his part. Where he helped the Minneapolis trio, with Matt Livingston the latest bass player, rock out on 2005’s The Great Destroyer, here his flourishes are more subtle. Although no less edgy.

Much of Drums and Guns has already been on the Low set list for the last couple of tours, with some tracks even pre-dating The Great Destroyer. However, what you hear on the album is so far removed from the original. To the extent that at times it sounds like Massive Attack have recorded an album of Low covers.

“They put the treasure deep inside us” sing Parker and Sparhawks in eerily perfect harmony on ‘In Silence’. Not so deep that their charms remain out of grasp. But deep enough to prevent Low ever being filed under Easy Listening.

(4¾/5)