Low Frequency in Stereo
The Drink, Thursday, March 17
Norway has gained a reputation for its death metal exports, and bands like Turbonegro have revealed its glam metal side, but the hipster contingent has always been hiding in the smoky clubs, worshipping the Jesus & Mary Chain and quietly looking cooler than us while doing it. Enter Low Frequency in Stereo, a dapper quartet from Haugesund, Norway. Their latest album, Travelling Ants Got Eaten by Moskus, is space rock distilled into a lo-fi beat-driven sound. Live, that sound is bigger than Oslo. The songs are largely instrumental, save for one rollicking Cure-esque number sung by keyboardist Hanne Andersen. Genres are devoured and discarded as guitarist Per Plambech Hansen roams from surf licks to jangly distortion to metal riffage to psychedelic jam-outs. The rhythm section of drummer Orjan Holand and bassist Per Steinar Lie wrestle with aplomb, trading low-end like it’s the plague and letting their sound nearly fall into the abyss before reeling it back in. What’s intriguing about LFIS is that they create a soundtrack even without vocals; songs unravel and congeal, sweeping from building crescendos to 4/4 disco to Floydian droning. It’s a visceral affair for these Norwegians, and it’s also really loud. They wear it well.
This article appears in March 18 • 2005.