Lower Dens have released a new video for ‘Sucker’s Shangri-La’, the opening track from their recent album, Escape from Evil, released on March 31 on Ribbon Music.

The Zachary Treitz-directed (the recipient of the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Best New Narrative Director for his directorial debut Men Go To Battle) video takes us into a Chinatown karaoke bar as a male singer tackles a song that speaks to Lower Dens’ Jana Hunter’s ability to take the experiences common to many of our lives – relationships, fear, guilt, among other subject matter – and turn it into music that’s emotive, transformative and potent and, in this case, a night out at the karaoke bar. Keep an eye on the projected karaoke video for a surprise or two.

Director Zachary Treitz had the following to say about the video:
“The karaoke bars in my neighborhood have these filler videos as background for the American pop songs. Most of them seem like they’re made in less than a day, start to finish, and they follow a basic formula, even though they’re unique to each song: girl, cars, body of water, shots of architecture. We made our own one with Jana in Baltimore, which was a lot of fun because once your in the mindset of those videos you start to see great shots everywhere that would otherwise seem terrible. But the music video itself takes place at a Chinatown karaoke bar, with the incredible Hiro Xu singing along to the video we made with Jana.”

The band are also set to begin their North American tour today which includes shows and several festival Forecastle in Louisville, GorillavsBear in Dallas + Austin, Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle, and FYF in Los Angeles.

Escape from Evilwas produced by Hunter and co-produced and mixed by Chris Coady (Beach House, Cass McCombs). Other production elements came from Ariel Rechtshaid (Haim, Vampire Weekend, Cass McCombs) and Lower Dens’ Walker Teret. Additional recording and production was done in Dallas, TX with John Congleton (St. Vincent, The Walkmen).

Lower Dens Tour Dates

07-16 Cincinnati, OH – MOTR Pub ~
07-17 Cleveland Heights, OH – Grog Shop ~
07-18 Louisville, KY – Forecastle Festival
07-19 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall (Official Pitchfork Festival Afterparty) $
07-21 Minneapolis, MN – 7th St Entry ~
07-24 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios ~
07-25 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl ~
07-26 Seattle, WA – Vera Stage (Capitol Hill Block Party)
07-28 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge ~
07-29 Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge ~
07-31 Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre (GorillavsBear Festival)
08-01 Austin, TX – The Mohawk (GorillavsBear Festival)
08-03 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks ~
08-04 Atlanta, GA – The Earl ~
08-05 Raleigh, NC – Kings ~
08-07 Houston, TX – Contemporary Museum of Arts Houston
08-13 New York, NY – Museum of Modern Art (Summer Nights Music Series)
08-21 Los Angeles, CA – Echo (FYF Festival Sideshows)
08-22 to 08-23 Los Angeles, CA – FYF Festival
09-26 Baltimore, MD – Druid Hill Festival
09-27 Kingston, NY – BSP Kingston #
09-28 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom #
09-30 Toronto, ON – Legendary Horseshoe Tavern #
10-01 Buffalo, NY – Mohawk Place #
10-02 Arden, DE – Gild Hall #
10-03 Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit Hall (Via Festival)
10-17 to 10-18 San Francisco, CA – Treasure Island Music Festival
10-24 Bristol, UK – Simple Things Festival
10-25 Manchester, UK – The Deaf Institute
10-26 Dublin, IE – The Sugar Club
10-27 Glasgow, UK – King Tuts
10-28 Leeds, UK – The Brudenell Social Club
10-29 London, UK – Scala
10-31 Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso (London Calling)
11-01 Brussels, BE – AB-Box (Autumn Falls) ^
11-02 Hamburg, DE – Hafenklang
11-04 Copenhagen, DK – Loppen
11-05 Aarhus, DK – Radar
11-06 Lund, SE – Mejeriet
11-07 Oslo, NO – Parkteatret
11-08 Stockholm, SE – Lilla Hotellbaren
11-10 Berlin, DE – Bi Nuu
11-11 Prague, CZ – MeetFactory
11-12 Vienna, AT – Arena
11-13 Munich, DE – Feierwerk
11-14 St. Gallen, CH – Palace
11-15 Zurich, CH – Exil
11-17 Lausanne, CH – Le Romandie
11-18 Lyon, FR – Sonic
11-19 Barcelona, ES – La Apolo
11-20 Madrid, ES – El Cielo
11-21 Lisboa, PT – ZDB
11-22 Braga, PT – GNRation
11-24 Paris, FR – Badaboum

~ with Young Ejecta
$ with How To Dress Well
* with Empress Of
# with Abdu Ali
^ with Kurt Vile & The Violators, Waxahatchee