New York pair
Lowertown have shared visuals for
'Mice Protection', the closing preview from forthcoming record '
Ugly Duckling Union', due this Friday (22nd May) on Summer Shade.
Alongside the video, Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg have confirmed a fresh batch of European and British live shows, which take in a slot at
Manchester Psych Fest and a headline date at Oslo in London.
Speaking on the track, the band explain: "The first song written for Ugly Duckling Union, the song starts with an exhale. After 2 years of extensive touring and emotional turmoil moving out of our childhood houses in Atlanta, we had to reevaluate our relationship within music and the band. Mice protection was the first time back in a basement studio and the first time we realized we knew the direction for the new album. We called the song 'Mice Protection' to pay homage to Avsha's rat infested house that all of Ugly Duckling Union was recorded in. Its lyrics are an introduction to some of the core themes of the album like the ambiguity of right and wrong, reality in the scope of different perspectives, and the darkness and light that exists and within an individual."
The new song joins earlier offerings '
Big Thumb', '
I Like You A Lot' and '
Worst Friend'. Handled entirely by Osby and Weinberg from writing through to mixing, the record builds a conceptual universe centred on Dale, a duckling who teams up with his companions to take on LBH — a domineering media corporation hellbent on control. The release will be accompanied by a story, a playable Minecraft world, a handbook, plush dolls, and comics by Doctor Nowhere (Silas Orion).
Osby adds: "Our home has been the people who make us feel understood, and the music that makes us feel understood. I feel like Avsha and I have just been two misfits doing stuff together, and I feel like this music is for people like us—it's for the misfit toys."
Upcoming live dates include:
MAY
18 Kilby Court, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
19 Shrine Social Club, Boise, ID, USA
22 Baba Yaga, Seattle, WA, USA
23 Polaris Hall, Portland, OR, USA
26 Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA, USA
29 Constellation Room, Santa Ana, CA, USA
30 The Roxy, Los Angeles, CA, USA
31 Quartyard, San Diego, CA, USA
JUNE
8 Valley Bar, Phoenix, AZ, USA
11 Paper Tiger, San Antonio, TX, USA
12 29th St Ballroom, Austin, TX, USA
13 Club Dada, Dallas, TX, USA
15 The End, Nashville, TN, USA
17 Masquerade (HELL), Atlanta, GA, USA
19 Hard Love, Jacksonville, FL, USA
20 Conduit, Orlando, FL, USA
22 Lincoln's Beard, Miami, FL, USA
23 The Orpheum, Tampa, FL, USA
25 The Pinhook, Durham, NC, USA
26 Songbyrd, Washington, DC, USA
27 Bowery Ballroom, New York City, NY, USA
SEPTEMBER
1 The Grand Social, Dublin, Ireland
3 Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds, UK
4 Nice n Sleazy, Glasgow, UK
5 Manchester Psych Fest @ YES (Basement), Manchester, UK
6 Exchange, Bristol, UK
7 Oslo, London, UK
9 Chinois, Paris, France
12 Paradiso (Upstairs), Amsterdam, Netherlands
15 Bumann & Sohn, Cologne, Germany
16 Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg, Germany
18 Urban Spree, Berlin, Germany
19 Forbrændingen, Copenhagen, Denmark
22 Manufaktur, Schorndorf, Germany
23 KIFF, Aarau, Switzerland
24 Spazio 211, Torino, Italy
25 Arci Bellezza, Milano, Italy
26 Wishlist, Rome, Italy
