Lower Dens - Nootropics (CD, Vinyl LP)

Baltimore's Lower Dens return with their sophomore effort on Ribbon music, hitting us with a meticulous and well thought out follow up to 'Twin-Hand Movement'. I'm not a huge fan or owt but I reckon they've got a pretty neat style. Very sophisticated without coming across as overly snobby or indulgent. Jana Hunter's ghostly vocal approach verges on Zola Jesus territory whilst the group maintain a strict, disciplined style that sees them forging metronomic beats with lush strings, layers of softly spoken guitar and earthy bass lines. Production plays a significant role in Lower Dens' sound and I'd be interested to know how they go about recording something this ambitious on the tiny budget it was most likely recorded with. 'Brains' for example is so subtle and refined that every instrument seems to sit perfectly in its own sonic space. The bass in particular sounds amazing and the use of strings and synths to augment these compositions lifts them to another level. Sounds like these are most likely a very clever bunch of kids. I'm only three tracks in and already I'm sold. Lovely stuff.