Secret Name
The first Kranky album, recorded by Steve Albini with an Optigan and strings.
Low, 1999
- Released
- 30 March 1999
- Recorded
- 20 to 28 November 1998
- Studio
- Electrical Audio, Chicago
- Label
- Kranky
- Producer
- Steve Albini
- Length
- 52:09
Steve Albini recorded Secret Name at Electrical Audio in Chicago between 20 and 28 November 1998, and John Golden mastered it. It was the band's first record for Kranky. Zak Sally plays an Optigan on some tracks, and a string group credited as The Triple A Strings plays on the album. The title comes from a line in Weight of Water: make a river through the sand until you are called by a secret name.
Parker takes the lead on Weight of Water and Days of..., and the two singers share Starfire, Immune and Will the Night. The A.V. Club called it a consistently striking, resonant collection, and the Washington Post wrote that Low had done something new without losing the serenity that first marked its music.
Track listing
- I Remember4:11
- Starfire3:06
- Two-Step5:49
- Weight of Water4:21
- Missouri4:04
- Don't Understand6:56
- Soon5:13
- Immune3:31
- Lion/Lamb4:13
- Days of...5:57
- Will the Night2:23
- Home2:26
Personnel
- Alan Sparhawk vocals, guitar, piano
- Mimi Parker vocals, percussion
- Zak Sally bass, Optigan
- Steve Albini recording
- John Golden mastering
- The Triple A Strings strings
More from Low
I Could Live in Hope (1994), Long Division (1995), The Curtain Hits the Cast (1996), Things We Lost in the Fire (2001), Trust (2002), The Great Destroyer (2005), Drums and Guns (2007), C'mon (2011), The Invisible Way (2013), Ones and Sixes (2015), Double Negative (2018), Hey What (2021)
Sources
- Secret Name (album), Wikipedia
- Low: Secret Name (Kranky), Discogs