MADISON, Wis. -- The veteran indie rock band Low released its eighth studio album in 2007, and after 16 years the band is proving it still has the ability to surprise and captivate listeners with the slow-burning intensity of its music.

Low is set to play Madison's second Forward Music Festival on Saturday.

The Duluth, Minn.-based band formed in 1993, and over the past 16 years they've proved to be one of the most quietly powerful and consistently compelling indie bands making music today.

At a time when "grunge" rock bombast dominated the airwaves, Low's music was dramatically different -- a minimalist, quiet and slow-tempo sound that critics lumped in with a musical genre called "slowcore."

The band consists of Alan Sparhawk on vocals and guitar and Mimi Parker on vocals and drums. After appearing on 2007's "Drums and Guns" album and touring with the group, bassist Matt Livingston left Low in 2008, to be replaced by Steve Garrington.

The heart of Low's sound lies in the gorgeous vocal harmonies between Sparhawk and Parker, who are married and have two children, ages 9 and 5. Sparhawk and Parker first met in fourth grade in rural Minnesota, and their connection is evident in the understated beauty of Low's music.

In 2005, Low made their debut on the venerable Sub Pop label with "The Great Destroyer," an album that found that band cranking up the volume with driving guitars. "Drums and Guns" again marked a significant change for the band. The haunted, sometimes challenging album introduced new elements to the band's sound such as looped vocals, drum machines and electronics while staying true to the themes and sensibilities the band has been developing over its career.

Channel 3000 caught up with Sparhawk to talk about what the band has been up to, the Forward Music Festival and the best way to eat large amounts of cake.

Channel 3000: "Drums and Guns" came out in March 2007. What has the band been up to since then?

Alan Sparhawk: We toured a lot. In the last couple years I've been doing stuff with the band Retribution Gospel Choir.

Lately, we have a bunch of songs that we're working on and figuring out where and how we're going to record them. So we'll probably be doing something this fall and winter, with an album coming out some time after that. Record companies take a lot of time, so it probably wouldn't be out until at least a little ways into next year.

Channel 3000: "Drums and Guns" is a pretty bleak album, even by Low standards. What was the inspiration behind it?

Sparhawk: You never really feel or want to admit your influences while it's happening usually. For me I felt like, at least at the time when we're doing something or I'm writing something, I never really made the connections to what it's about. I mean, some things are a little more obvious than others, but for the most part with some songs, maybe later on, I figure out, "Oh yes, that's where that came from." Sometimes it's embarrassing (when you) realize later on that lyrically you're maybe a little more intimate than you thought you were (laughs).

But there were a number of things going on. I was still recovering from a stretch of time where I was having some pretty difficult mental health issues that had from time to time taken us off the road and had kind of debilitated our things for awhile. So those songs were sort of going as that was all going on.

So in hindsight, I guess it's maybe safe to say there is some connection with that. But at the same time, I find that usually the songs where I'm speaking outward -- like the songs seem to be speaking to someone else -- usually they're the ones that are actually the most intimate, where I'm really kind of saying more about myself, or I'm laying out something that's more personal. Where the ones, some of our songs that could be construed as personal -- or (people might think), "Oh, this is really dark and depressing and personal" -- to me those sometimes are the most freeing and sort of general; sometimes they feel like they're reaching out and communicating more so than something where you feel like you're up on a soapbox.

But the war had been going on for awhile and there was definitely a tone of disgust with the way world leaders were handling things, and the constant conflict and argument and death. So songs like "Breaker," "Pretty People," "Murderer," to me they come from a time when I think everybody was sort of having to face the question of "What is man that we kill each other?

Channel 3000: Musically, "Drums and Guns" is a major departure from the sound of "The Great Destroyer." Did you set out to make a more experimental album and to try out some new electronic elements and sound textures?

Sparhawk: Yeah, once I had the songs and we'd been playing them for awhile, when it came time to record, I just felt like I wanted to try a different approach. Up to then, the records we had done were sort of reaching at the ceiling and sort of peaking with the ideas that we'd been pursing as a band for a long time, sort of subconsciously.

And "The Great Destroyer" was kind of this peak of how loud and large and heavy we can sound while still playing essentially the same instruments we've always played.

We've made a few records at this point and after awhile you kind of already know what it was going to sound like -- and I didn't want to do that. I could already tell before we got in (the studio), that if we approach this the same way that we always do, I already knew what it was going to sound like. And I just felt like that's a copout.

Channel 3000: Do you think that change in sound made the album somewhat divisive among fans?

Sparhawk: I think it was maybe a little divisive. I'm sure there were some people who really loved "Things We Lost in the Fire" who would have wanted it to sound more like that record.

But honestly, with our fans, I've never really worried about that. We started out doing something pretty uncomfortable, and I think that fans who have come with us kind of accept that. I think every fan who has come with us knows there's a certain thing we do, sure, but there are a lot of little surprises here and there, and I think our fans have been willing to go with us wherever we went and I think they appreciate the fact that we challenge them sometimes and dare them to go with us.

I hope it's working. People still seem to be coming to the shows. I know we're still surprising ourselves.

Channel 3000: There seems to be lots of anticipation around here for your show at the Forward Music Festival. How does it feel to be involved in the second year of the festival?

Sparhawk: I'm excited for it. It seems like the last few years, especially in the United States, people have started putting together cool little festivals.

The scale of it is really cool, and I don't know if it's because of the Internet, but you get people traveling to come to them. I think it'll be fun. Since we've been doing this for so long, it's about finding that new experience.

Channel 3000: Are there any particular songs that you especially enjoy playing live recently?

Sparhawk: We've got a new song called "Twenty Dollars" that I like playing live. Every once in a while, we've got a really slow song that plods along and is maybe boring sounding to people, but it's kind of the heart of what we do (laughs). Every once in a while we'll have a song where it cuts it right down to the bone, and that song does that.

We've also been playing a song off "Trust" called "Shots and Ladders" that has very simple vocals and about three chords over and over and over again -- it seems like we have a song like that on every record (laughs) -- but I only get one or two moments in a set where I can sit back and relax and really just play, so I look forward to that. Most of the time I'm pretty busy concentrating and focusing on where my vocals are at and stuff like that.

Channel 3000: What's the secret to making a band last for some 15 years?

Sparhawk: Ignorance. Yeah, the more you learn about the music industry, the less you want to (be involved in it). Yeah, ignorance; that's sort of a short, cute answer, but to me it just puts it in a nutshell.

In the beginning we didn't know what we were doing. And we started out and just kind of learned as we went. A lot of the things we learned down the road, if we had known then, we maybe wouldn't have done things the same way.

But ignorance also breeds curiosity and determination to figure it out. I think maybe even just thinking you're ignorant is enough to sometimes drive you to work it out.

Channel 3000: Is it difficult to do much touring these days with the children at home?

Sparhawk: Yeah, I mean over the years we toured a lot and averaged about 90-100 shows a year.

When Hollis was born, we traveled with her until she was about 6 and started school, but then when Cyrus came around it was harder. We still do about 60-70 shows a year.

Nowadays we leave them home more often. They stay home, and a friend stays at the house with them.

It's hard; it's a lot of work. Any band that has traveled knows that you're basically just kind of scrapping along, going to the next show, traveling, you're up late eating crappy food if you're lucky you have a comfortable place to sleep.

When you have kids, you get to town and sometimes sound check is the least important thing going on (laughs). And you get to get them fed, get them a decent place to sleep and then go do your show and try to get to bed so you can still be alive at 7 or 8 (the next morning).

I don't think we'd be able to do all that if we were starting out now, for sure. By the time Hollis came along we were starting to play for enough people where we could afford it. What it comes down to is, "Can we afford to get there early? Can we afford the hotel room? Can you afford to have someone with you to stay with the kids?"

But Mim and I are lucky. We're around our kids more than most parents in America, and that's what we set out to do.

Channel 3000: Do you guys listen to much music around the house?

Sparhawk: Yeah, we've been in this a long time -- we listen to a lot of music. I listen to it mostly in cars, and obviously on tour when you're driving a lot. You can go through the long list of records over the years you become obsessed with, and then you move on and listen to something else.

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of reggae. If I was going to advise someone on buying a reggae album, I'd recommend "Heart of the Congos" by Congos. That's a great record. The Gladiators have a bunch of good stuff. There's a song by Delroy Wilson I've been obsessed with.

And "All Things Must Pass" by George Harrison. That record has pretty much been in my back pocket for a long time, but I just recently have been listening to it again.

Mim is pickier in what she likes to listen to. She likes Willie Nelson. There was a while there, well, it comes and goes, when we listened to a lot of Gillian Welch's "Time (The Revelator)," which is really a phenomenal record. Mim just bought this CD compilation called "Smooth Hits." (laughs). But, you know, we were farm kids; 70s FM is all we had.

Everybody has weird tastes and musical patterns. I remember we definitely went through our Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" (phase), stuff like that, back in the in the 90s. (Neutral Milk Hotel's) "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" -- oh man, that's another obsessed record. You can just loose your soul in that one.

I'm trying to think if there's anything super new … I keep seeing really (crappy) bands on TV lately anytime I turn it on -- holy crap. There used to be you'd only see one or two bands a night on late-night TV. And now there's like three or four different shows, opportunities for these young (clowns) to prove themselves.

It's tough, man (sighs). I don't know, I guess if I was 23 and in some band with tight pants on "Carson Daly," I guess I'd be nervous too.

Channel 3000: The label "slowcore" seems to keep following the band. At this point in your career, do you find that characterization annoying?

Sparhawk: Well, not really. It comes up in interviews more than it comes up anywhere else really. I mean, everybody's got a little tag stuck to them and that's fine. It distinguishes us between Beyoncé and Motorhead.

I don't think it's hindered anything. I think anybody who's so shallow that they just kind of pass along after seeing the title is probably not necessarily interested in what we're doing anyway -- so that's fine.

Those sub-labels and subgenres are probably more important when you're younger. Later on, when you get older, after you've heard enough music you just kind of realize, "Oh wait, everybody is just kind of trying to do the same thing."

I mean, they're fine; I skim through magazine reviews and try to find out in the first couple lines what they're talking about -- and if they say "black metal," I know what that means, and if they say "indie pop" or "indie-synth" or whatever, I know what that sort of means. But stuff I like, certainly I don't really think of it in terms of a label anymore.

Channel 3000: The music video for the song "Breaker" features you eating an entire cake in a sitting. What's your cake of choice?

Sparhawk: Definitely a chocolate cake, a darker chocolate cake. And my wife makes this really great frosting with whipped cream mixed with cream cheese -- it's cream cheese frosting, but it's lighter and it makes for a very edible cake. You don't get halfway through the first slice and feel you're overloaded.

The other trick with eating cake is to not drink milk -- drink rice milk. If you like rice milk like I do, it's an excellent kind of oil-and-sugar-flushing thing for your throat (laughing). Dairy tastes good with it, but it just makes for a more sticky soup.

Channel 3000: You've been involved in a few bands outside of Low, most recently Retribution Gospel Choir. What's the appeal for you of pursing other musical projects in addition to Low?

Sparhawk: It's a little bit of a self-indulgent thing maybe. The opportunity is there, and the idea is there and you try it out.

A lot of it comes from just having too many ideas. I'm lucky; we have a band that's somewhat successful. I don't have to keep a full-time job. I've lived in this town for 20 years. I know all the musicians and have a lot of good friends and we just get together and play once and a while and if that turns into something, on occasion, than so be it.

The Black Eyed Snakes came out of just jamming with some guys that I know. Same with Retribution Gospel Choir -- that started out with just playing with people and it just kind of became something that I think is very good and very exciting live, and I wrote some songs that I perhaps wouldn't have done with the tone of Low.

So that's exciting; it's a different way of playing. I enjoy the challenge of working through ideas and presenting them in a certain way.

And there are a lot of opportunities in the Duluth scene. If you have a weird idea, if you say, "OK, I'm going to put together eight people and they're all going to play drums and play this 20-minute piece," you can do it. There's a place to put it on and easy ways to let everyone who would (care) know that it's happening; so there's just room for experimentation. Being as old as I am and having done it for so long, it's kind of like, "Why not? Who's to tell me what I'm supposed to do?"

I think to me it's just the challenge of music. I love music, and I love what happens when music is made, especially the moment that it's made -- the people who make it and what it does to the air and there's a million ways you can make something interesting happen in music.

Related Links:

Low MySpace Page

Low Official Web Site

Low Information At Sub Pop

Forward Music Festival 2009 Web Site