their message” 27
The affective states and processes that are transmitted through non-verbal means are extremely
characteristic of Low in particular. The album is largely instrumental which encourages us as a
listener to adopt new methods of understanding to what it is that the songs are trying to say.
Tagg goes on to say that “ This should mean that music is capable of transmitting the affective
identities, attitudes and behavioural patterns of socially definable groups” 28 . The question that
he poses in this context is with regards to how the walls of sound present within Bowie’s Berlin
Trilogy impact the listener? And with what effect?
The walls of electronic sound that flood the album Low are particularly unsettling. The album
becomes an uncomfortable sonic space where Bowie explores the themes of oppression
through a new musical language rather than in a more traditional linguistic or instrumental
manner. This forces the listener to think of the subject matter in more depth and perhaps in a
more personal way, in an attempt to decipher and attach meaning to the songs. We begin to
explore Bowie’s expression in his work from the onomatopoeic signals to the more complex
structures of the songs. Perhaps the most prominent example of this being on the track
Warszawa that opens with dull, dystopic drones that build ever so slightly, revealing an almost
cathartic, religious feeling. Here we see both the dystopic elements of oppression that Bowie
reflects sonically in order to comment on the political and social climate of a divided Berlin, in
which tensions were constantly on the rise. However, we also see how Bowie comments on the
27 Philip Tagg, "Analysing Popular Music: Theory, Method And Practice", 2018 [1 February 2018].
28 Philip Tagg, "Analysing Popular Music: Theory, Method And Practice", 2018 [1 February 2018].