It’s no secret that Alan Sparhawk of Low occasionally feels the need to unleash his inner rock ’n’ roll demons. There have been flashes of that fire which have grown increasingly aggressive on Low’s albums since 2001’s Things We Lost in the Fire and 2007’s Drums and Guns was a declarative break from their slowcore roots. So, the appearance in 2008 of a Sparhawk side project called the Retribution Gospel Choir? – a group clearly enamored with blues-rockist volume and distorted jams – wasn’t nearly as revelatory as it would have been, say, following Long Division. Nonetheless, one is more likely to be taken back when confronted with the raucous and loose energy(aside from the name) of RGC’s second album – the lackluster titled, 2. Sparhawk was apparently so exhausted from these splenetic jams that naming anything on this album was clearly an afterthought(he even sings an ode to his electric guitar aptly called, “Electric Guitar.”) The band, which also includes fellow Low-ster Steve Garrington and drummer Eric Pollard, rips through eight tracks of varying length and intensity. The chunky, pop-leaning anthem of “White Wolf” clocks in at a radio-friendly 2:48 minutes, while “Electric Guitar” splits its eight minutes neatly between plodding, proto-metal thud and psychedelic skree. All the while, the vocals provide a unique sonic counterpoint to the volume-driven madness. The most interesting aspect here isn’t the fact that Sparhawk rocks out but that he rocks out with such unhinged abandon Even on their most front-facing numbers, Low always possessed clarity and precision. Retribution Gospel Choir? has no use for that and the result is a beautiful and cathartic bit of on-your-heels rock ’n’ roll blowback