Young Atlanta duo Lowertown released their impressive and lovable Honeycomb, Bedbug EP at the tail end of 2020, but they return today with a new song and plans for a follow-up EP. The new seven-track offering is called The Gaping Mouth and comes out on September 16 through Dirty Hit. They say:
“It’s our most honest and interesting work to date. Most of our songs in the past have been sad songs, but this is our most mature work.”
As an offer of proof that this is their most interesting work yet, they’ve shared the EP’s title track, “The Gaping Mouth”, and immediately on pressing play you can sense a new methodology at play. Untethered from a drumbeat, Lowertown float in space with acoustic guitar and whispered backing vocals. It gives the impression of watching dust swirl in a sunbeam, and Olivia Osby’s singing begins disaffected and benumbed, lost in a wash of mental imagery; trying on clothes, taking showers to ease the mind, tripping over herself. As “The Gaping Mouth” continues, Olivia’s words become more breathless, she gets frustrated at her bad habits, which are like “sandbags I keep tying to my ankles weighing me down – but comforting at the same time.” These images swirl up into a quiet torrent, and Lowertown rustle up a gentle storm with the guitar getting gnarlier as she repeats the central idea “you were the iris in my eye.” It sounds at once like a loving tribute and an exhalation of annoyance. It’s a deep and evocative exploration of that tricky period of transitioning to early adulthood, and only repeat listens will fully unlock Lowertown’s lyrical and sonic expression of their conflicted feelings.
Listen to “The Gaping Mouth” below or on streaming platforms.
Lowertown’s The Gaping Mouth EP arrives on September 16 through Dirty Hit. You can find the band on Twitter and Instagram.
