Indie pop band Lower Dens have announced their first new album in four years. The Competition, out September 6 via Ribbon Music, is the band’s follow-up to their acclaimed 2015 record Escape From Evil.
The band, always politically charged, have announced their return with an especially timely single. “Young Republicans” skewers those who feed off the labor of the poor and unprivileged. Singer-songwriter Jana Hunter tears down the capitalist society that rewards ruthlessness and cruelty in the guise of “competition,” providing a portrait of American culture’s ugliest qualities over a glistening pop melody.
“The issues that have shaped my life, for better or for worse, have to do with coming from a family and a culture that totally bought into this competitive mindset,” Hunter says of the album. “I was wild and in a lot of pain as a kid; home life was very bleak, and pop songs were a guaranteed escape to a mental space where beauty, wonder, and love were possible. I wanted to write songs that might have the potential to do that.”
Watch the retro-inspired video for “Young Republicans” above, and check out the tracklist for The Competition below.
The Competition:
01. “Galapagos”
02. “Hand Of God”
03. “Two Faced Love”
04. “Young Republicans”
05. “Real Thing”
06. “Buster Keaton”
07. “I Drive”
08. “Simple Life”
09. “Empire Sundown”
10. “Lucky People”
11. “In Your House”
