Lower 48

The Metazoa, today taken as a synonym of Animalia, comprises a large grouping of organisms that may be characterized as being multicellular and heterotrophic, i.e., they do not synthesize their own food, but obtain it from external sources.

The fourth album from Lower Dens, 'The Competition' is a pop album with a concept both emotionally and politically urgent, dealing with modern capitalism and its psychotic effects. Its eleven songs range in scope from the personal to the political, but overall express an epiphany: you need radical and unquestioning compassion for yourself if you're to reimagine what society could be.

The Competition, the anticipated fourth album from Lower Dens, is a pop album with a concept both emotionally and politically urgent. The title is lead singer and songwriter Jana Hunter’s term for a sociopsychological phenomenon that, in different ways, binds us all. Modern capitalism by nature generates a psychosis that accelerates our insecurities and anxieties to the point of total overload, corroding our intimacies, our communities, and our senses of self. The Competition speaks, in various ways, to the necessity of “socially de-conditioning ourselves and learning how to be people,” 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.” The band’s first three albums—Twin-Hand Movement, Nootropics, and Escape from Evil—formed a narrative of sorts, about finding community, and identifying one’s responsibilities. This trajectory was interrupted by personal crises including frustrating battles with mental health. At the same time, Hunter was and is still undergoing a gender transition they had been deferring for many years. “I repressed the idea for a long time,” Hunter says.

Dysphotic Zone is a freely improvised solo piano album and it's Margaux Oswalds debut recording for Clean Feed. The unedited performance was recorded live at the Monopiano Festival in Stockholm.