Low: Trust

After half a dozen studio albums, several EPs, a live disc, several side projects, a remix collection, a handful of collaborations, and a Christmas record, the Duluth trio Low continues to take its seemingly limited sound to increasingly unpredictable places. Known for using the silence between notes as prominently as any instrument, the band has in recent years dabbled in unexpected instrumentation—the new Trust's gorgeous "In The Drugs" even utilizes a banjo—and extended patches of jarring dissonance. Replacing the bare-bones production of Steve Albini with the busier work of Tom Herbers and Tchad Blake, Trust propels the group's experimentation to new levels, venturing into hummable pop-rock ("Candy Girl") that, like "Canada," actually fills in the sonic spaces that have long been Low's trademark. At 65 minutes, Trust feels both loose and muscular, with "Shots And Ladders" culminating in several minutes of shimmering feedback and "I Am The Lamb" dissipating into a portentously clomping march at half-speed. The album peters out a bit in its second half, but not before hitting towering peaks with "In The Drugs," "Snowstorm," and the seven-minute album-opener "(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace." Compared to the near-perfect likes of The Curtain Hits The Cast and Secret Name, Trust is surprisingly uneven, but for Low, a modest step backward is still a step worth hearing and savoring.