Lower Dens

Baltimore, United States

After their 2010 debut, Twin-Hand Movement, which won unanimous critical acclaim, Lower Dens came to Video Sound Art to present their second album, Nootropics, released on April 30th 2012 by Ribbon Music (a division of Domino). The record opened a new chapter for the band, formed in 2009 by the creative will of Texan Jana Hunter, a former collaborator of Devendra Banhart.

Brains, the single released ahead of the album, centred on Jana’s voice and made by Tristan Patterson, reveals its central themes: a sort of monumental minimalism, in which sounds that seem barely perceptible on first listen turn out to be fundamental to the album’s architecture.

Nootropics was recorded at Key Club Recording in Benton Harbor, Michigan, with producer Drew Brown, who had worked with Radiohead, Beck and Blonde Redhead, and was completed in Baltimore. At the time Lower Dens were Jana Hunter, Geoff Graham, Will Adams, Nate Nelson and Carter Tanton.