Album Review: Lowertown - 'I Love To Lie'
Synonymous with their lush indie-pop cuts that birthed with ‘Caroline’, best friend duo Lowertown have stamped their sweet and delicate forays into the music world. Composed of Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg, the twosome took roots in the former’s love of poetry to create emotionally evocative musical projects.
Succeeded by a handful of singles, their latest record I Love To Lie, moves through narratives of nostalgia tinged with politics in their most ambitious and artistic offering to date. Sitting at eleven tracks long, the project sweeps through cheeky lyricism (‘Bucktooth’), delicate synth tones (‘Antibiotics’) and blissful wonderment (‘Waltz in Ab’) to paint a kaleidoscopic soundscape of cleverly penned cuts.
‘My Friend’ sets the scene of the record by opening with rip-roaring guitars and percussion before Osby’s riot-grrrl-cum-Kathleen-Hanna vocals dominate the cut as she reflects on friends being “thicker than blood” in an ode to lasting companionship.
When dissecting the lyrics of ‘Antibiotics’ the sinister undertones are abundantly clear. From “slaughterhouse floors painted of the boys blood” to “beaten up, fallen and blue”, Lowertown use themes of the macabre to construct a number back-boned by sultry vocals that lament on the suffocating cycle of a toxic relationship and the thought patterns that accompany. “I felt like the conditions of the relationship were quite literally poisoning my body and mind, like a sick and funny metaphor,” Osby commented on penning the lyrics.
‘Bucktooth’ takes its place as the third track, and the first taster the world has offered of Lowertown’s newest project. Steeped in politicism surrounded by witty and fun lyrics (“they’re enemies of the federation”) the duo turns a debate that tore America in two (“I can’t handle any more guns'') into a lilty jive teeming with childhood nostalgia of teasing ‘Bucktooth Willy’ who’s character wildly resembles that of Atticus Finch’s Boo Radley. This glaring juxtaposition offers a strangely easy-going aura to the track that paints a vivid narrative through Big-Thief-tinged vocalisations and thrumming guitar lines.
Moving through the insistent instrumentation found in ‘I’m Not’ and soft introspective nature of ‘It’s It’s It’s’, we find ourselves faced with the high-octane energy of the half-way track ‘No Way’. Commenting on school social structures and the fake nature of ‘jock’ culture (“screw you and your athleticism”), Lowertown takes a U-turn on ‘My Friend’ and highlights the importance of choosing your friends wisely and not falling for “your false ambitions”. Briefly washing over topics found within conspiracy literature, Osby quickly declares “I hate all the slimey people/ the lizard skin/ the suits and ties/ the big toothy grin”.
‘At The End’ follows a similar narrative of friendship, but this time accompanied by the disapproval of a maternal figure, “look around Mama’s got a frown / I caught her looking down I know she found out”, where ‘Goon’ follows this with “everything I am seems to let you down”, as the album takes a sombre, self-depreciative turn.
Bringing up the rear of the album is ‘It’s Easy For Me’ with its acoustic drive melody in a final stripped-back offering that takes its place on being wholly instrumental.
Demonstrating sonic growth and earned maturity through their full-length record, I Love To Lie, Lowertown show that they’re not ones to be underestimated.
Words by Alannah Jade Williams
