Low’s Minimalist Melodies Seethe With Restless Emotion

Minimalist rock band Low inspired an astonishing degree of concentrationThursday at the El Rey Theatre. The audience was so quiet that every cough, every murmur, every drink cup tossed into the trash ricocheted like a bomb.

Guitarist Alan Sparhawk and standing-up drummer Mimi Parker, the group’s married vocalists, along with bassist Zak Sally, are icons of “slo-core,” an alternative micro-genre that specializes in hypnotic, spare music played at a more-than-leisurely pace.

More broadly, the Duluth, Minn.-based trio resembled an old-fashioned folk group with its close, husband-wife harmonies and seemingly dire yet often soothing material, drawn from its current album, “Things We Lost in the Fire,” and earlier releases.

Throughout the hour-plus set, Sally faced his bandmates, forming a tight sonic circle from which flowed austere, melodic tunes that reflected the group’s increasing command of dynamics and willingness to at times rev up to almost ballad-like speed. Guest keyboardist Mark De Gli Antoni of Soul Coughing entwined his own delicate accents into several numbers.

Though lovely, the songs roiled with emotional conflict. “Are you filled with anger?” Sparhawk sang at one point, as restless music underscored a memory of rebellion.

But Low was so pensive it made even positive feelings unsettling, as Parker’s “In Metal” lovingly described wanting to keep her child young by bronzing its body like baby shoes.