In some ways, this is a strange and unexpected convergence of beloved musicians from different worlds - but when you consider it, nothing could be more perfect. Low, formed in northern Minneapolis in 1993 by Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, emerged from the sparse but influential alternative scene of Slowcore. Their songs were melancholic, almost hymnal, but never without the sense that beneath the layers of guitar was a beautiful folk-pop song. The band’s final two records are their heaviest and also their sweetest, a contrast they pushed to its brink on songs such as ‘Days Like These’.

Plant has also evolved, going from powerhouse Led Zeppelin vocalist to wigged-out folksinger in his later years. Dian’ vocals sit softly on top of Plant’s, and their gentle, set-back place in the mix evokes Parker perfectly. She almost haunted Low’s songs, hovering her vocals in and out, and Dian emulates that here.

Plant, now 76, sounds brilliantly wearied, bringing out the desolation in the song. Low’s original is built on a soot-dark guitar riff and mournful, almost mantric melodies. This is not unfamiliar territory for Plant and brings to mind his performance on ‘Kashmir’, one of Led Zeppelin’s most hypnotic tracks. But on this cover, the guitar riff has the feel of jangly desert blues in the style of Ali Farka Toure or Mdou Moctar. Like the latter, it has a sort of hypnotic ferocity which takes the winteriness of Low’s original and turns the temperature up to furnace-heat. Bossa rhythms, played deftly by drummer Oli Jefferson, complete the sun-wearied, fata-morgana effect.

If a cover of a song can also be a tribute, then Plant and Dian do so by making it their own. It proves two things: the depth of talent of the singers, and the depth of influence which Low has had on various music scenes. When Mimi Parker passed away of cancer in 2022, countless musicians declared their love of her work, and its importance to their own. Plant, a lover of music more than anything, has covered the Everly Brothers, Townes Van Zandt, and Gene Clark; he does justice to Parker by giving her equal credence to those greats.