Low, Barbican, London

When we arrive at The Barbican and take our seats the two screens dominating the stage are counting down. White numbers on a black screen show seconds ticking away, signalling when the music will begin. It’s poignant, because when the display finally reads zero you realise the magic of Low is in the fact that they appear to make time stand still.

It’s in the slow, delicate and glacial sounds, in the way Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker’s haunting voices entwine, and it’s in the haunting restraint of their new material. Their understated grandeur suits the Barbican’s lush setting beautifully. It means that, even though it’s a large venue, this show has the feel of an intimate event. Dressed all in black, saying only a few carefully chosen words of thanks and with the two huge screens showing archived grainy footage of American scenes behind them, it feels like the band are merely shadows on the stage delivering their spectral music as the hushed reverence of the crowd takes every drop of it in, waiting respectfully until each song has completely finished before beginning their applause.

The band have an intuitive understanding of what the others are doing. Mimi and Alan share glances and Steve Garrington adds the perfect accompaniment of piano or bass guitar.

In the main, tonight’s set draws from the mesmerising new album ‘The Invisible Way’. It’s a record which is all about hushed beauty and unembellished soundscapes and produces some of the best moments here. ‘Make It Stop’ in particular is something special, the forward thrust of the song perfectly complemented by the grainy video footage of a train moving slowly onwards - Mimi’s undulating vocals showing gentle hopefulness in the face of despair. ‘Holy Ghost’ also showcases her breathtaking voice while ‘So Blue’, which finishes the main set, is wonderful.

They also treat us to tracks from their majestic 20 years of music making, two decades during which they have been one of the best and most important bands around. ‘Monkey’ is brilliantly dark and sinister while ‘Soon’ and ‘Words’ are the band at their most heartbreakingly quiet.

But tonight the songs that grab are the ones that jolt you back to earth, the crunch of the guitars seeming to make the room shake. ‘On My Own’ grows out of a gentle sway into the mantra of ‘Happy birthday’ with crunching guitars underneath while ‘Especially Me’ is all muscle, ‘Canada’ shudders with its pounding intensity and ‘Pissing’ starts with a whisper before growing into something dark and brutal. Suddenly the lights seem to come on in the room and you notice disco balls at the back and side of the stage spinning shards of lights around the hall.

As they finish the encore with a stark and brilliant ‘In Metal’ and then finally their track with Dirty Three ‘I Hear… Good Night’, Alan stares out at the crowd and says with sincerity ‘Peace on earth and peace be with you,’ before they slip away again into the dark and we are left with the gentle whispers of their lullabies to keep us company as we head home to our beds. Time may keep on ticking away but Low have shown tonight that they create songs that stay with you, something that lasts.