I’m not 100% sure if I’ve consciously listened to Lower Dens before (I’ve a feeling Liz Pelly may have played a few tracks for me when she interned for State in 2010) but the Baltimore band fronted by Jana Hunter (whose name I recognise from scouring SXSW lineups of years past) are back later this year (April 27th) with a second album Nootropics so now might be a good time to explore.
It’s that beat to new song ‘Brains’ that gets me. That and the fact that it flirts with sounding like one of those grand alt-rock songs but instead ebbs away from that crevice into sweeping reverby guitars and goes for an artful build. Lovely.
(7″ release details)

Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.