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One Track Mind: Arvin Dola

The Spanish composer and sound artist on the fragile solemnity of a late-period Low masterpiece.

The premise of One Track Mind is pretty simple: I ask artists to pick one track that means a lot to them – either something they’ve discovered recently, something that’s been with them for years, or one that reminds them of a specific time in their life or career – and tell me what makes it so special to them. I get to talk to the artists I love, and they get to talk about the artists they love. Love all round!

Spanish composer and sound artist Arvin Dola works at the intersection of music, cinema, and performance. His background in scoring for film and theatre informs a deeply textural approach, where sound becomes a vehicle for memory, emotion, and unresolved narratives.

His new LP O GHOST is his debut album release and is inspired by absence, memory, and the weight of unresolved time. Written in the wake of personal loss, it folds grief into a subtle kind of presence. Drawing on hauntology and shaped by Dola’s work in film and performance, the record blends ambient, drone, and disintegrating motifs that never quite land or leave.

For his One Track Mind selection, Arvin has chosen to highlight a track from an incredible album which also happens to be one of my all-time favourites.

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Alan Sparkhawk – Brother

The first solo project from Alan Sparkhawk, formerly of Low, was always going to be difficult. Following the death of his wife and bandmate Mimi Parker in 2022, Sparkhawk hasn’t been absent as such, still recording with his son and playing the occasional live show, but his new album, White Roses, My God is certainly his fullest musical statement since Parker’s death. And a surprising one it is, with Sparkhawk going full Kayne, albeit thankfully only in musical rather than political direction, with heavily autotuned vocals stretched over stripped-back, electro-ish arrangements. Brother is the only track that features any guitar at all – which will probably upset Low purists – and benefits from the additional texture that brings. But at this stage I think he’s earned the right to do whatever he wants.

https://alansparhawk.bandcamp.com/album/white-roses-my-god

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Low – The Innocents

I was a latecomer to Low: I only really started paying attention around the release of Double Negative, but I would now consider myself a huge fan, not just of their music, but of Alan and Mimi themselves. From afar they seemed like decent, loving, compassionate people, and from what I’ve read from those who knew them well, this was all true. Their music is extraordinary, like nothing else out there, and I was so sad to learn of Mimi’s death yesterday.

This is one of my favourite songs of theirs, and exemplifies everything I love about Low. Crunchy, bleak and foreboding but also – possibly – quietly hopeful, and one on which Mimi’s vocal takes centre stage and is pushed to its emotional limits. Together, they have delivered some utterly timeless, genuinely phenomenal music that will never be forgotten, and she will be greatly missed by many.

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Low – Hey

As someone who loved Low’s last album but is only vaguely familiar with their extensive back catalogue, I’ve spent the week trying to play catch up as much as possible in anticipation of their new LP HEY WHAT which arrived today in all its melancholy, distorted glory. It’s been quite a week, and while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend piling through that much Low at once (the darkness! the depths!), it’s been interesting to trace the developments of their 20+ year career in just a few sittings. As a fairly new fan, I certainly don’t have any authority in ranking these things, but also: HEY WHAT is categorically their best album, and Hey is its emotional zenith.

https://www.chairkickers.com

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Low – Days Like These

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 13: Vocalist and drummer Mimi Parker (L) and vocalist and guitarist Alan Sparhawk of Low perform live on the altar of St David's Historic Sanctuary during the SXSW Music festival on March 13, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jim Bennett/WireImage)

I’ve listened to Days Like These maybe a dozen times now, and I’m still not even sure if I like the first half of it. Alan Sparhawk’s vocal is more prominent than perhaps ever before, accompanied by Mimi Parker’s harmonies and very little else and it’s almost wilfully OTT and (whisper it) a bit cheesy? Maybe that’s the point, and there’s a good chance that later this year after sitting with it for longer and reading more into the meaning behind it I’ll realise just how wrong I am, but that’s where I am right now. What isn’t in doubt however, is the second half, which is one of the best things they’ve ever made.

Produced again by BJ Burton who worked with them on 2018’s incredible Double Negative, it descends into warped static, freewheeling, ethereal harmonies and an atmosphere so thick with longing it takes a good few minutes to pull yourself out of it. It’s also the lead single from their forthcoming new LP Hey What, out 10 September on Sub Pop. Bring on the heartache.

https://www.chairkickers.com