Alan Sparhawk

Best known for the slowcore band Low, which he formed in 1993 with his wife Mimi Parker, alternative guitarist and composer Alan Sparhawk has initiated other projects and released three albums under his own name. Born in Seattle in 1969, he grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, where he played in the band Zen Identity. His meeting with Mimi Parker led to a duo collaboration under the name Low, which left a lasting mark on the history of American alternative rock for three decades. In between Low recordings and tours, Alan Sparhawk has been involved in various projects, including the blues band The Black-Eyed Snakes since 2001, The Retribution Gospel Choir since 2005 and The Murder of Crows in 2011. In 2006, he recorded his first personal album Solo Guitar, featuring drone, ambient and post-rock styles. He then resumed his main activity within Low, until the death of Mimi Parker on November 5, 2022. Alan Sparhawk then set Low aside to devote himself to a new solo project, the electronic album White Roses, My God (2024), recorded with the help of a vocoder, which was unlike anything he had ever done before. The elusive, label-averse musician then collaborated with Perfume Genius on the single "Point of Disgust" and, alongside Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and BJ Burton, took part in the Queer film song "Vaster Than Empires". In 2025, he teamed up with a group specializing in contemporary bluegrass for the joint opus Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles.