Lower Dens’ new album The Competition, drops on September 6, via Ribbon Music. Ahead of the release, the band have shared a new video for “I Drive.” Directed by Jason Nocito, featuring choreography by Veleda Roehl, and dancers Stephannie Henriquez & Steven Jeltsch. ”

Janna Hunter on “I Drive”

“Like a lot of queer and trans people, I’ve learned that real family is made, and it isn’t necessarily blood. Even my blood relatives, we work for that familial connection and trust. This song is about leaving behind obligations to people who don’t love or care about you, being with and about people who do. It’s a feeling so strong it’s driving me. That’s the driving I’m doing.”

Lower Dens
The Competition
tracklisting

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

The Competition is described as a pop album with a concept both emotionally and politically urgent. By design, competition is the driving force of modern capitalism, and the title is lead singer and songwriter Jana Hunter’s (pronouns: they/them, him/his) term for a socio-psychological phenomenon this generates, a kind of psychosis that accelerates our insecurities and anxieties to the point of total overload, corroding our intimacies, our communities, and our senses of self. Hunter says, “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. 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.” Indeed, The Competition might be Hunter’s most vulnerable, hook-filled album yet, a leftfield, resistance pop record that could only be released in 2019.