[rating=2.50]
Lower Dens hails from Baltimore, an important fact to consider when listening to their music. It’s a trippy, synth-fueled and mystifying sound that alternates between pulsing, metronomic beats and more languidly buzzing slow burners. Also calling Baltimore home are Future Islands, Wye Oak, and Beach House, three bands making a similar racket and employing a like-minded template. Whether by intention or simply a happy accident, it’s interesting to note these new sounds filtering out of a common location, and here on Nootropics, Lower Dens takes a big step towards establishing themselves as a force on the indie-rock scene.
Not to dwell on the above comparisons, but Lower Dens’ vocalist Jana Hunter leads the four-piece with a husky and melancholic voice that is quite comparable to Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak or Beach House’s Victoria Legrand. With her vocals shrouded in intrigue, the rest of the band envelopes the lyrics in a kaleidoscopic swirly haze. Opening track “Alphabet Song” is a swirling dirge that sets the tone for the remainder of the album. From there, lead track “Brains” springs into action with its Krautrock influenced bursts of minimalist energy. Other highlights include the downright sinister sounding “Lamb”, a song that could provide a killer soundtrack to a sci-fi adventure, and the nasty kiss-off “Candy” that comes complete with searing guitar arpeggios that soar over an intense bass line.
Unfortunately, the album loses its steam and momentum after that, with a curious choice to conclude with four consecutive downers. The corresponding “Lion in Winter” tracks crush the momentum and adventurous spirit that the band had spent the previous half of Nootropics building. The two songs plod along with minimal lyrics and a Joy Division/New Order homage selection of riffs that counteract the excitement that had been brought to their music. And rather than bringing listeners out of a temporary lull, the final two tracks simply continue the doldrums as “Nova Anthem” fails to develop past its slow requiem beginnings into an explosion of sound that the song begs for. And finally, “In the End is the Beginning” fittingly ends things with 12 minutes and 54 seconds of battered shifting tones that meander back and forth into a wall of unidentifiable sound. Is it the end of the song, the beginning of the song? Who knows? It’s a disappointing way to go out that buries much of the interesting foundation the band harvested over the first half of the album. With a lot of buzz being generated by this album, hopefully Lower Dens will continue to develop their sound over the course of the rigorous tour that follows and work towards crafting a more complete body of work for their next album.
