Úma Archives - The Obelisk

I Am Low Premiere “Ruins”; Úma Out Sept. 29

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on September 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Swedish psych-leaning heavy grunge rockers I Am Low will release their fourth long-player, Úma, through Majestic Mountain Records on Sept. 29. Recorded in late 2022 and early 2023, it is the trio’s first album for the label, and it offers a look at the largely-ungoogleable outfit’s songwriting process in a mature but actively exploring state. I’ll say outright that Úma is my first experience with the band — guitarist/vocalist Kristoffer Norgren, bassist Anton Höög and drummer/backing vocalist Oskar Melander — and from the flowing chorus of opener “Gunman” onward, which is just the title repeated, they update ’90s grunge and alt rocks with heavy purpose and trippier flashes and entrancing repetition.

Above everything else — the guitar tone, the groove, the odd sample here and there, the focus on vocal melody that becomes such a defining feature — is songwriting. I Am Low aren’t shy about varying tempo, as one can hear in how the speedy “Ruins” careens after second cut “Dead Space” unveils the mellower side of the three-piece, but one way or the other, the structures beneath the Alice in Chains-esque bottom-of-mouth delivery from Norgren backed in harmony by Melander (unless that’s layering, which is always possible) are strong enough to convey a plan at work throughout the most languid of moments. For example, “Dead Space” is a slower, more open-feeling track than “Gunman” or “Ruins” or even side A’s “Wake,” which lets the bass be its anchor as it shows something of a more patient side in redirecting after the thrust of “Ruins.” But in the underlying structure it’s not so dissimilar from “Gunman” or the Helmet-y riffer “Pigs,” which follows the centerpiece title-track and is enough to make me believe that at one point or another, somebody in the band listened to or played a fair amount of noise rock.

Nonetheless, that influence is worked fluidly into the mix of grunge, heavy rock and lightly-added psych that’s no less at home igniting with the punkish basis of “Ruins” than the “Planet Caravan”-esque guitar meander and hand percussion of the penultimate “Void,” and I Am Low are consistent through these turns. In sound, in melody, in groove. Listening through from “Gunman” to “Release,” the prevailing impression from Úma is of the band sculpting the material in the studio, finding the place they wanted each song to occupy — positioning “Úma” in the middle speaks to this as well, but it’s more about what they’re actually doing in the songs — and letting it dwell there. “Gunman” works at the outset to start off with gentle taps on the ride cymbal, easing the listener into a build-up in progress. “Dead Space” seems to commune with “13 Angels”-C.O.C. similar to “Void”‘s Sabbathian basis, and the not-to-be-discounted momentum they subtly build through the “Tell me…” repetitions of the title-track, the way “Wake” highlights that bass as “Time” brings the guitar forward in a guitar solo seeming to communicate the drawl in the lyrics repeating the line “Time keeps on slipping.” I recall hearing something about that somewhere.

All of this rounds out to “Release” working back up the energy that “Void” traded out for trance — not complaining — holding its tension in the low end and loosing its forward build at about two minutes in before the solo marks the apex., as fitting and unpretentious a finish as I Am Low might conjure in light of Úma‘s abiding lack of fancy tricks in its component tracks. This isn’t effects-wash. It’s not improv jams. These songs are flowing, but grounded, conscious, and while it might be my first time hearing them, it’s very, very obviously not their first time honing a studio sound. They make resounding labelmates for the recently-reviewed Masheena in their ’90s elements (not so much the ’70s) and marked quality of craft, while remaining less outwardly pop-minded and moodier in tone, able to immerse their audience and create an atmosphere without losing their intended direction in the process. It should go without saying that this is mastery in action.

“Ruins” premieres below, followed by some comment from the band and more from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

I Am Low, “Ruins” track premiere

I Am Low on “Ruins”:

“‘Ruins’ is the second single from our upcoming album, to be released on Majestic Mountain Records. Hard, fast and to the point (celebrating the fuck ups of the world) ‘Ruins’ is in quite bright contrast to some of the other tracks on the new album. However it still stays true to the sounds that formed this band, a healthy mix between grunge and stoner rock! Enjoy!”

Majestic Mountain Records is proud to [work with] Swedish, Umeå-based stoner rock trio I AM LOW for the release of the band’s fourth album “Úma”, due out on September 29th.

Ten years, three albums, two EPs and one line up change, Swedish stoner rock trio I AM LOW comprised of guitarist and vocalist Kristoffer Norgren, bassist Anton Höög and drummer and backing vocalist Oskar Melander are now ready to release their fourth, and hopefully their best and brightest album yet, perhaps heavier and slightly more psychedelic than before.

Tracklisting:
1. Gunman
2. Dead Space
3. Ruins
4. Wake
5. Úma
6. Pigs
7. Time
8. Void
9. Release