Hey What (stylized in all uppercase) is the thirteenth and final studio album by Minnesota-based duo Low, released on September 10, 2021, through Sub Pop. It is their third recording in a row produced by BJ Burton,[8] building on the distorted sound of the band's previous album Double Negative (2018).[3] Burton and Hey What were nominated in the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.[9] It is their only album as a duo of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, all earlier Low albums being recorded as a trio.
Hey What | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 10, 2021 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 46:08 | |||
Label | Sub Pop | |||
Producer | BJ Burton | |||
Low chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Hey What | ||||
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 8.1/10[10] |
Metacritic | 84/100[11] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [12] |
Beats Per Minute | 91%[13] |
Clash | 9/10[14] |
The Guardian | [15] |
Exclaim! | 8/10[16] |
Loud and Quiet | 7/10[17] |
Mojo | [18] |
Paste | 8.6/10[19] |
Pitchfork | 8.4/10[20] |
PopMatters | 7/10[3] |
Uncut | 9/10[21] |
Hey What was met with widespread critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 84, based on 22 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[11]
Following Mimi Parker's death in 2022, Hey What, Low's de facto last album, has been called "a tribute to Mimi Parker— and a masterpiece at the end of the line".[22]
Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
The Guardian | The 50 Best Albums of 2021 | 31
|
|
Les Inrockuptibles | Adrien Durand's Top 10 Albums of 2021 | 1
|
|
Arnaud Ducome's Top 10 Albums of 2021 | 1
| ||
Rémi Boiteux's Top 10 Albums of 2021 | 10
| ||
Valentin Gény's Top 10 Albums of 2021 | 3
| ||
NPR | NPR Music's 50 Best Albums of 2021 | 21
|
|
Paste | The 50 Best Albums of 2021 | 12
|
|
Pitchfork | The 50 Best Albums of 2021 | 5
|
|
The 31 Best Rock Albums of 2021 | — |
All tracks are written by Low
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "White Horses" | 5:03 |
2. | "I Can Wait" | 4:02 |
3. | "All Night" | 5:14 |
4. | "Disappearing" | 3:32 |
5. | "Hey" | 7:41 |
6. | "Days Like These" | 5:20 |
7. | "There's a Comma After Still" | 1:51 |
8. | "Don't Walk Away" | 4:07 |
9. | "More" | 2:10 |
10. | "The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off)" | 7:08 |
Total length: | 46:08 |
Low
Technical
Chart (2021) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[29] | 75 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[30] | 11 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[31] | 60 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[32] | 27 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[33] | 32 |
Irish Albums (OCC)[34] | 44 |
Italian Albums (FIMI)[35] | 89 |
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[36] | 41 |
Scottish Albums (OCC)[37] | 10 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[38] | 37 |
UK Albums (OCC)[39] | 23 |
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[40] | 7 |