Lower Dens return after 2015’s Escape from Evil, with brand new single “Real Thing”. The song, written by Lower Dens’ Jana Hunter and fellow musicians Arthur Bates and Ariel Rechtshaid, was produced by Jana Hunter and mixed by Henrik Iivari with additional production from Rechtshaid.

The accompanying music video, which finds Hunter alone in the spotlight, is directed by SSION’s Cody Critcheloe, who previously collaborated on Escape from Evil’s ‘To Die in L.A.’ music video.

Says Hunter on the track and video:

“Initially, I wrote ‘Real Thing’ with my friend, musician Arthur Bates. Arthur and I have had a very long, intense, chaotic and very close friendship. He’s also been a major influence on me personally and artistically. I love him. When we’re together, the air is full of intense melancholy, reckless abandon, and a very goofy kind of dark humor. Somehow in our years of knowing each other we’d never written a real song together. We got together specifically for that purpose, in Houston, the town where we met, and wrote this song in about an hour. The lyrics were inspired by an advice column in an old copy of Oui magazine I found in Arthur’s apartment. The woman writing in to the column seemed genuinely torn between her love for her husband and her desire to fuck around. I find that kind of selfishness entirely relatable, the kind of thing all of us know about ourselves and find nearly impossible to admit. Those kinds of simultaneously internal and yet universal struggles bring me to tears. What if we could all acknowledge just those kinds of flaws, accept them, resolve not to judge each other? I mean, who wants this misery? This alienation? The greed that follows generations of repression? The jealously, oppression and injustice that come next? No. Hell no. If that’s reality, I don’t care to be a part of it. Or at least that’s how I let myself feel from time to time, until I realize I love people and I’m part of the community of humankind and if things are gonna be better for anybody it’s on me to do my part. Might seem like a lot but, for me, it’s all in this song.

Last, I wanna acknowledge Ariel, Caleb and Henrik who contributed writing and engineering. They all added so much and I’m very grateful. And of course, to Arthur as well, I owe so much. Thank you, my friend.
The visuals are 100% Cody Critcheloe AKA SSION, whose vision I will always follow to its realization. I have immense respect for him.”

Lower Dens will also be featured on a forthcoming benefit compilation release, titled The Time Is Now and released on October 7th, 2016 via Republic. The compilation will benefit AmFar, The Foundation for AIDS Research, and will feature a number of well-known artists, including Phantogram, Metric, Aloe Blacc, and Dita Von Teese with Sebastian Tellier, performing updates on classic 80’s hits.

Lower Dens Tour Dates

09-12 Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe @ Old National Center %
09-13 Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall %
09-14 Cleveland, OH – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
09-15 Detroit, MI – Masonic Temple Theatre %
09-24 Albany, NY – Larkfest
09-30 Brooklyn, NY – Pioneer Works [“The Present is the Form of All Life” exhibit]
10-01 Harrisburg, PA – Makespace Music Festival
12-17 to 12-18 Houston, TX – Day For Night
05-11 Baltimore, MD – Joseph Myerhoff Symphony (WTMD & the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra present PULSE)

% w/ Explosions in the Sky