Lou Barlow has been among the most powerfully distinctive, influential, and prolific figures in independent music since the 1980s. He was a member of three important bands,
Dinosaur Jr.,
Sebadoh, and
the Folk Implosion, as well as making time for a solo career, and the common thread between his contributions to all these projects come from his gift for penning simple but memorable melodies, and his willingness to bare his soul and expose his insecurities. As a bassist, he took a supporting role in
Dinosaur Jr., as the leader of
Sebadoh he was a pivotal figure in the lo-fi revolution, and with
the Folk Implosion he managed to land a single in the pop Top 40, 1995's "Natural One." Though his proper solo career didn't begin until the 2000s, 2005's
Emoh and 2015's
Brace the Wave show he's still in firm command of his style and his gifts
Although born in Dayton, Ohio, on July 17, 1966,
Lou Barlow was raised primarily in Amherst, Massachusetts, where during high school he joined forces with fellow introverted outsider
J Mascis in the hardcore band Deep Wound. After the group's breakup in 1983,
Barlow and
Mascis reunited in
Dinosaur (later
Dinosaur Jr.), one of the most acclaimed indie bands of the era. Long-simmering tensions between
Mascis and
Barlow, who rarely spoke to each another, hastened the latter's exit from the group after 1988's superb Bug. After his dismissal,
Barlow turned his focus to
Sebadoh, a side project that he had begun with multi-instrumentalist
Eric Gaffney several years prior. While
Dinosaur Jr. had won acclaim for its monolithic guitar sound,
Sebadoh was initially conceived as a bare-bones, deliberately low-fidelity home recording project spotlighting
Barlow's pensive, emotional songs and
Gaffney's noise collages. Over the course of a barrage of singles and sprawling albums like 1989's
The Freed Man, 1990's Weed Forestin, and 1991's
Sebadoh III,
Sebadoh -- which later added drummer/songwriter
Jason Loewenstein -- matured and expanded its scope; while still defiantly anti-commercial, the group's music grew more complex and fully developed, and moved progressively away from its primitive origins.
No doubt a reaction to
Sebadoh's growth,
Barlow started the first of many concurrent side projects, dubbed
Sentridoh, and released the
Losers cassette in 1991. For all intents and purposes a solo project,
Sentridoh allowed the staggeringly prolific performer room to explore not only his shambling acoustic folk-pop but also whatever other ideas he felt like entertaining. A series of other releases followed, most of them on cassette, although the highlights were compiled on CD collections like 1994's
Winning Losers: A Collection of Home Recordings,
The Original Losing Losers, and Lou Barlow and His Sentridoh, which featured the sublime love song "Forever Instant." Another Collection of Home Recordings, released under the name
Lou Barlow & Friends and featuring
Bob Fay (
Gaffney's replacement in
Sebadoh), appeared in 1995.
In 1994,
Barlow also teamed with fellow singer/songwriter
John Davis in
the Folk Implosion, another home-recording outlet (albeit one marked by odd stylistic detours into blue-eyed funk,
Lennon-esque pop, and noise abrasion). Following a series of EPs and singles, in 1995
the Folk Implosion recorded a number of songs for filmmaker Larry Clark's acclaimed feature Kids; the soundtrack's infectious "Natural One" became a surprise Top 40 hit later that year, further raising
Barlow's increasingly high profile. After
Sebadoh's well-received 1996 LP Harmacy,
Barlow recorded
the Folk Implosion's
Dare to Be Surprised for release in the spring of 1997. Two more
Folk Implosion albums, 1999's
One Part Lullaby and 2003's The New Folk Implosion, appeared before the group announced their breakup, while
Sebadoh had called it a day several months after the release of
The Sebadoh in 1999.
Barlow pursued a solo career, releasing the albums
Emoh (2005) and
Goodnight Unknown (2009), while also recording and touring with
Dinosaur Jr. who, to the surprise of many, reunited their original lineup and released 2007's
Beyond. Also in 2007,
Sebadoh got back together for a series of live dates, and the band would return to the studio, cutting an EP (2012's Secret) and an album (2013's
Defend Yourself). Despite his busy schedule,
Barlow found time to cut another solo LP in 2015,
Brace the Wave. He kept up the heady pace in 2016, contributing to the
Elliott Smith tribute album
Say Yes!, playing bass on the second
Dumb Numbers album, collaborating with
Dinosaur Jr. on the LP
Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not, and releasing an acoustic EP,
Apocalypse Fetish.
Sebadoh returned to duty for the 2019 album
Act Surprised, and
Dinosaur Jr. made their way back into the studio to cut 2021's
Sweep It Into Space, but
Barlow still found time in his schedule to make another solo effort, and
Reason to Live was issued by Joyful Noise in May 2021. ~ Jason Ankeny