On albums like Heba and Hifalutin, it felt like Lowly was on a trajectory to make ever-bigger, more ambitious-sounding music. Then, life intervened. On top of surviving a global pandemic, the group's members welcomed new family members into the world and grieved the loss of others. Lowly's reconnection with their musical and personal roots is the major influence on Keep Up the Good Work; where Hifalutin's songs grew to fill concert houses and warehouse-sized studios, the band's third album reflects time spent at funerals ...
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On albums like Heba and Hifalutin, it felt like Lowly was on a trajectory to make ever-bigger, more ambitious-sounding music. Then, life intervened. On top of surviving a global pandemic, the group's members welcomed new family members into the world and grieved the loss of others. Lowly's reconnection with their musical and personal roots is the major influence on Keep Up the Good Work; where Hifalutin's songs grew to fill concert houses and warehouse-sized studios, the band's third album reflects time spent at funerals and in front of the TV with newborns and infants. Like Björk's Fossora, Lowly's meditations on domesticity and what it means to be part of a family -- biological or otherwise -- are still adventurous. The lilting acoustic guitars on songs such as "The Fish" add some homey warmth, but the rhythm behind them is too urgent to be merely soothing. The feeling of being grounded, but not confined, is even stronger on "Seasons," where Soffie Viemose's reflections on comfort and uncertainty are set to synths ready for liftoff. Lowly's flair for nuance means Keep Up the Good Work stays on the right side of the fine line between affirmations and platitudes. On the empathetic electro-pop of the title track, the group acknowledges the moments when just surviving feels like a feat worthy of applause; here and on "Mouth," the band's use of encouraging messages from friends and fans creates a choir of support that's truly sweet, not saccharine. Though Lowly indulge in the pure happiness of sharing a life with someone with "You Are Good and I Love You"'s sunny android folk-pop, more frequently they explore the poignant obligations and consequences of love, capturing a mood in between gratitude and responsibility on the standout "The We the You the I." Hifalutin already reflected the growing maturity of Lowly's music, but where that album magnified everyday life to epic proportions, Keep Up the Good Work brings familiar detail to overwhelming situations and profound realizations. "Feel Someone" captures the emptiness when the rituals surrounding loss don't bring closure: "I thought I could appreciate the cycle/We must make space for the new bones and all that...I just want my friend back." On "Nothing Much," the bustling beat pushes forward Viemose's bittersweet confessions to someone lost long ago, expressing how days and moods slide imperceptibly into each other as they make up a life. Creating art that's genuinely encouraging and reassuring isn't easy, but the warmth and complexity Lowly bring to Keep Up the Good Work finds them doing just that. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi
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