Sparhawk, Alan: With Trampled By Turtles (Coloured Vinyl LP)

No one can help you build something beautiful quite like those who know you best. Alan Sparhawk knows this well. In his years in Low, he built decades of stirring music with his wife and lifelong creative partner Mimi Parker. In recent years, he has performed around Minnesota with his son Cyrus in DERECHO Rhythm Section, a funk band that also frequently features his daughter Hollis on vocals. There’s an irreplaceable naturalism that comes with this kind of dynamic. Those who know you understand you. They love you. They want to help you bring your greatest passions to fruition.

And so, it only made sense that Sparhawk would turn to fellow Duluth musicians Trampled by Turtles to realize his latest record. As friends and mentees of Low’s, taken under Sparhawk and Parker’s wing from their earliest days as a bar band—Trampled by Turtles have performed with Sparhawk countless times over the years. The Duluth ties run deep: “There’s a certain vibe that has to do with underdog syndrome, coming from a small town,” Sparhawk muses. “Some of it is the weird grind and slackness that being at the mercy of Mother Nature puts in you. It humbles you.”

The two artists hold the kind of ironclad, lifelong bond where they stand by one another as artists and people. Following Parker’s passing in 2022, Trampled by Turtles invited Sparhawk to join them on tour to give him a space to be surrounded by friends. Occasionally, he would join them onstage. The outpouring of love was palpable every time they played together, a surge of warmth. Nurturance was in every note.

When playing together is that powerful an embrace, why stop there?

Cut to: Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Winter 2024. Trampled by Turtles had time booked at Pachyderm Studios recording a record, when Alan Sparhawk came in towards the end with several songs in development. Some had never worked in Low; others were just fresh and waiting for the right setting. For years, the two parties had talked about making something together, but the talk was never more than hypothetical. When Sparhawk needed it most, the promise reemerged, sharper than ever. “When the opportunity seems right,” Sparhawk says, “you jump.”

With Trampled By Turtles is a record exactly as its name implies: Collective. Communal.

Fraternal. Empathetic. There is never a moment of complete solitude. With Trampled by Turtles is a vessel for comfort, a reminder of the harmony that can be brought when surrounded by those closest to you.

1. Stranger
   
2. Too High
   
3. Heaven
   
4. Not Broken
   
5. Screaming Song
   
6. Get Still
   
7. Princess Road Surgery
   
8. Don't Take Your Light
   
9. Torn & in Ashes