Almost three years after their sophomore effort, Baltimore's Lower Dens return later this month with new album Escape From Evil. With honeyed melodies and vocals whisked straight from a dream, their third full-length draws the veil back on the band’s signature hazy textures and shoegaze opacity, giving way to fresh emotional depths and a newfound immediacy. Resonating with longing and measured optimism, its tracks speak to the purest elements of songcraft: honesty, empathy and personality. Now lead singer Jana Hunter creates an all-female mix, sourced from the artists that inspire her. Contrasting bare, robustly sincere balladry with the imagistic and the surreal, Hunter's mix is as heartfelt as it is provocative. With selections pulled from corners as disparate as early electronics (Pauline Oliveros, Wendy Carlos), sound-art (Maria Chavez) and cosmic jazz (Dorothy Ashby, Alice Coltrane) – a gossamer of avant garde and improvisational music – it's hard not to feel inspired, too.
Tracklist:
Rebekah Del Rio – "Llorando"
Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen and Jeanne Loriod – "4 Inédits Pour Piano Et Ondes Martenot-I."
Maria Chavez – "Live at Silent Barn 5.3.11"
Dorothy Ashby – "Soul Vibrations"
Throwing Shade – "Adagio for Britney"
Pauline Oliveros – "Cows, Cows, Cows!"
Brigitte Fontaine – "Je suis décadente (la concierge gamberge)"
Wendy Carlos – "Title Music From A Clockwork Orange (From Purcell's Music For The Funeral Of Queen Mary)"
Alice Coltrane – "Ohnedaruth"
Lola Beltrán and Linda Ronstadt – "Hay Unos Ojos"
Susan Alcorn – "Kalimankou Denkou"
Christy Azuma + Uppers International – "Naam"
Julee Cruise – "The World Spins"
Escape From Evil is released 31 March on Domino Records
