Four years since their critically acclaimed album, Escape From Evil, Lower Dens recently announced their newest creation -- The Competition -- which will be released on Ribbon Music on September 6, 2019. Today, Lower Dens are thrilled to announce they will be hitting the road upon the album's release date supporting Of Monsters And Men in addition to three very special release shows in Los Angeles and Baltimore respectively. All dates are below.
The Competition is 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.
The Competition is available to pre-order now on limited pressing clear vinyl with exclusive Lower Dens enamel pin, CD, and digital download.
Pre-order from Ribbon Mart || Pre-order digital
Tour dates - all dates opening for Of Monsters And Men except where noted:
08/31/19 Baltimore, MD @ Rituals (Lower Dens headline show)
09/01/19 Baltimore, MD @ Rituals (Lower Dens headline show)
09/04/19 Washington, DC @ The Anthem *
09/05/19 New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall *
09/08/19 Boston, MA @ Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion *
09/10/19 Philadelphia, PA @ Metropolitan Opera House *
09/11/19 Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage *
09/13/19 Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom *
09/14/19 Minneapolis, MN @ Surly Brewing Festival Field *
09/16/18 Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom *
09/17/19 Ogden, UT @ Ogden Twilight *
09/19/19 Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl *
09/20/19 Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room (Lower Dens headline show)
09/22/19 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium *
09/24/19 San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium *
09/26/19 Seattle, WA @ WaMu Theater *
09/27/19 Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield *
09/28/19 Vancouver, BC @ Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre *
10/19/19 Maspeth, NY @ Pitchfork Octfest
* with Of Monsters And Men
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