Music Review: The Low Countries, A Prize Every Time – The Greatest Bits

By Melissa Bratcher

There’s something to be said for Sunday morning music: the music you put on because the hangover hat is so heavy you can’t raise your head, or the music that goes nicely with coffee and the Sunday paper. The Low Countries’ Greatest Hits compilation A Prize Every Time – The Greatest Bits is truly a Sunday morning record. It’s quiet; it’s packed with tidy, short songs; and is so restrained that it is almost painful. An Anglo-Flemish duo comprised of Nigel Parrington and Els D’hooge, The Low Countries have been turning out twee, thinky, folky music since 2007 and A Prize Every Time gives a nice overview of their brand of ever-so-gentle music.

One of the most striking things about A Prize Every Time is how very quiet it is. All of the songs are hushed, almost furtive, like songs recorded in a teenager’s bedroom while his parents are asleep. It’s interesting, at first, but over the course of 22 tracks, it becomes maddening. There are no highs or lows; it just maintains a somnambulant level. Which, of course, makes it a fine Sunday morning record.

A Prize Every Time opens with the Boris Karloff name-dropping, earnest, and open hearted “A Friend Worth The Name.” Sweet acoustic guitar pairs with a reverby drone and Parrington’s slightly nasal delivery. This combination will be revisited several times on A Prize Every Time, sometimes adding piano, like on the aching “At The End Of The Day,” or the quiet “Still Time,” and the repetitive “Ache” which finds a line it likes and repeats it continually over strummy guitar.

There are moments of cleverness. “A Journey” takes a pastoral song with birdsong and flute, and layers that atop a track of a man’s voice repeating “congratulations.” It becomes subverted and a little creepy, like the negative to a photograph. A silly and charming ode to musician turned physicist Brian Cox (“Brian Cox’s Locks”) sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom, but he should definitely use this as a theme song.

When Parrington is joined in harmony by Els D’hooge, things really take off. She takes the lead on “Don’t Let It Be You,” and it is lovely. With brushed drums and harmonica, it’s a straightforward, pretty song and her voice is unusual and delightful. Their harmonies on the demo-like “Forever Comes” are sweet and graceful. D’hooge’s hushed “aah”’s on the grittier “Paracetamol” are a highlight, though the song is so buttoned down. While it is slightly rockier, it is only just.

“Sun Street” boasts a smart guitar sound and Beach Boys-esque harmonies, if the Beach Boys were on downers. “Tell Her” wouldn’t be out of place on a Nuggets box set, but there’s no passion or urgency. “Wormwood Blues” has a later Julian Cope-like feeling, though it never goes much of anywhere.

A Prize Every Time – The Greatest Bits is an often interesting, sometimes engaging overview of a quirky, quiet folk group. They make literate, clever music that makes Belle and Sebastian look like a bunch of thugs.

A Prize Every Time – The Greatest Bits was released by Nub Country Records on September 8.