Lower Dens‘ excellent LP Escape from Evil is out now on Ribbon Music, and today we check out the band’s new video for their track, “Sucker’s Shangri-La“. Directed by Zachary Treitz, winner of the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Best New Narrative Director Award for his debut film, Men Go To Battle, this new effort is really a video inside of a video. Inspired by the generic on-screen images that play in karaoke bars behind a pop song’s lyrics, Treitz explains,
“…they follow a basic formula, even though they’re unique to each song: girl, cars, body of water, shots of architecture. We made our own one with Jana in Baltimore, which was a lot of fun because once you’re in the mindset of those videos you start to see great shots everywhere that would otherwise seem terrible.”
Set in a Chinatown bar, and also starring Hiro Xu as a lone gentleman out on the town for a drink and a song, the video’s tension lies in the juxtaposition between Xu’s melancholy stoicism and the raw emotion of Hunter’s expressive lyrics.
Lower Dens have just kicked off an extensive US and European tour. You can check out the dates here…
07-17 Cleveland Heights, OH – Grog Shop ~
07-18 Louisville, KY – Forecastle Festival
07-19 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall (Official Pitchfork Festival Afterparty) $
07-21 Minneapolis, MN – 7th St Entry ~
07-24 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios ~
07-25 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl ~
07-26 Seattle, WA – Capitol Hill Block Party
07-28 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge ~
07-29 Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge ~
07-31 Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre (GorillavsBear Festival)
08-01 Austin, TX – The Mohawk (GorillavsBear Festival)
08-03 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks ~
08-04 Atlanta, GA – The Earl ~
08-05 Raleigh, NC – Kings ~
08-07 Houston, TX – Contemporary Museum of Arts Houston
08-13 New York, NY – Museum of Modern Art (Summer Nights Music Series)
08-21 Los Angeles, CA – Echo (FYF Festival Sideshows)*
08-22 to 08-23 Los Angeles, CA – FYF Festival
09-26 Baltimore, MD – Druid Hill Festival
09-27 Kingston, NY – BSP Kingston #
09-28 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom #
09-30 Toronto, ON – Legendary Horseshoe Tavern #
10-01 Buffalo, NY – Mohawk Place #
10-02 Arden, DE – Gild Hall #
10-03 Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit Hall (Via Festival)
10-17 to 10-18 San Francisco, CA – Treasure Island Music Festival
10-24 Bristol, UK – Simple Things Festival
10-25 Manchester, UK – The Deaf Institute
10-26 Dublin, IE – The Sugar Club
10-27 Glasgow, UK – King Tuts
10-28 Leeds, UK – The Brudenell Social Club
10-29 London, UK Scala
10-31 Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso (London Calling)
11-01 Brussels, BE – AB-Box (Autumn Falls)
11-02 Hamburg, DE Hafenklang
11-04 Copenhagen, DK Loppen
11-05 Aarhus, DK Radar
11-06 Lund, SE Mejeriet
11-07 Oslo, NO Parkteatret
11-08 Stockholm, SE – Lilla Hotellbaren
11-10 Berlin, DE – Bi Nuu
11-11 Prague, CZ MeetFactory
11-12 Vienna, AT Arena
11-13 Munich, DE Feierwerk
11-14 St. Gallen, CH Palace
11-15 Zurich, CH Exil
11-17 Lausanne, CH – Le Romandie
11-18 Lyon, FR Sonic
11-19 Barcelona, ES – La Apolo
11-20 Madrid, ES – El Cielo
11-21 Lisboa, PT ZDB
11-22 Braga, PT GNRation
11-24 Paris, FR Badaboum
~ with Young Ejecta
$ with How To Dress Well
* with Empress Of
# with Abdu Ali
