Alan Sparhawk: White Roses, My God

When a member of one of your favourite bands passes away, naturally there’s a lot to demystify. When it comes to writing about it, trying not to sound glib and capturing the right tone is made all the much harder when your emotions are still overridden by shock and sadness.

Two years after Mimi Parker left this world, I still can’t listen to a Low record. I know how Alan Sparhawk feels because I suffered the same loss six years ago. Double Negative was the album that helped get me through the same blast zone of grief that I’m sure Sparkhawk himself is going through now. The album that forced me to find the pieces of a shattered heart that had been swiftly ripped from my chest. The album that helped me rebuild my life and start again.

Through the hellstorm of grief, I thought it at the time, and I still think it now. Double Negative isn’t just one of the best albums of this century: it’s one of the best albums ever made.

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Following his wife’s passing, from afar at least, Sparhawk seems to have been doing all the right things when coping with such a seismic loss. He’s been getting out there, surrounding himself with people who I’m sure have helped cushion the blow in their own way. It’s the most difficult thing to do after a trauma like the one Sparhawk is navigating. It’s exhausting, and while he may not know it now, this approach will serve him well in the future.

This approach may have led him to do what he does best: make music, and in this instance, the result is his new solo album, White Roses, My God.

White Roses, My God was always going to be far removed from the Low oeuvre. In many ways, it’s a moot point, as it’s just beautiful to see Sparhawk making music. And as far as free expression is concerned, White Roses, My God is just that.

The soundscapes that dominate White Roses, My God shouldn’t come as a surprise. From the template obliterating Double Negative and its equally compelling follow-up HEY WHAT, Sparhawk has always looked further afield. He just hadn’t baked these concepts into much of Low’s work because, well, why change something that good?

From Low’s 1997 EP, Songs for a Dead Pilot, to the scenes during the 2008 David Kleijwegt film, You May Need a Murderer, where Sparkhawk is DJing as the sounds of Vladislav Delay scream from wall to wall, these influences are dotted throughout White Roses, My God (Can U Hear). So too hip-hop as cuts such as Station and Somebody Else’s Room are steeped in reverence to much of the genre’s foundations as we know it in 2024.

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Meanwhile, opener Get Still sounds like something Justin Broadrick may have toyed with during the early incarnation of his Pale Sketcher project. Wonky bleeps at half-speed and auto tune on free reign. And speaking of that free reign, on the tracks Heaven and Black Water, Sparhawk utilises auto tune as a masquerade for his missives. A comfort blank where he suggests that he’s with us, he’s trying, but it’s taking every inch of mental and physical strength to be here in a creative capacity.

Perhaps the most pivotal moment on White Roses, My God comes with I Made this Beat. Not so much a nod to pop music, but the kind of endorphin rush one experiences through the sheer power of creation. And that’s what White Roses, My God is; a spiritual celebration of Alan Sparhawk remembering his past by pushing forward into the future. To indeed, Feel Something. The track itself embodying what he’s going through, and by continuing to be in the spotlight, engaging with people, creating music, to – in his own words – “Project 4 Ever”, there’s a chance some light will come. However, as always the case with grief, it’s all in one’s own time.

White Roses, My God is out Friday via Sub Pop. Purchase from Bandcamp.