The second album from Baltimore quintet Lower Dens is a refinement of the sound they put forth on their 2010 debut Twin Hand Movement. No longer is everything bathed in reverb, no more guitar squalls dominate the landscape, instead the band has focused on low-key, often droning psychedelic compositions. This used to be front woman Jana Hunter’s bus to drive, but it becomes obvious from the outset that it’s all hands on deck, and the result is a confident rock ‘n’ roll album that makes full use of effects, electronic and otherwise, to cover everything in a delicate haze. A nootropic is a substance that is supposed to support and greatly improve cognitive function, and it seems that Lower Dens have not only been taking them, they’ve OD’d.
Hunter is often associated with the freak folk movement in the U.S., and certainly her work with the likes of Davendra Banahrt and Deer Tick has earned her that distinction, but there was little in the way of folk on Twin Hand Movement and on Nootropics there’s even less. This time around the band’s eyes are set clearly on the stars, and the touches of krautrock, electro, and ambient music they add to the mix are superb if not a little unexpected.
Heading into the recording process Lower Dens were reportedly listening to a lot of Kraftwerk, Eno and Iggy Pop, and those varied influences appear almost immediately. ‘Alphabet Song’ kicks everything off with a droning guitar riff and a plodding, determined beat that frames Hunter’s deadpan vocals with a distorted fog. Fans of Berlin era David Bowie will warm to the luscious drifting expanses of ‘Lamb’ and ‘Candy’, which make up the heavily atmospheric core of the album.
Closing track ‘In the End is the Beginning’, at over 12 minutes in length, finds the band indulging fully in their ambient tendencies and using little more than a guitar and some doom-fixated electronics to cast a sinister shadow over the final piece of the record. On the flipside is lead single ‘Brains’, the most propulsive track on the album, it employs the motorik beat of krautrock along with a dense layer of synths and guitar. It’s not necessarily upbeat, but by Lower Dens standards it’s downright ecstatic.
No matter one’s perceptions of this record it is clear that it’s a collaborative effort for the band and a much more fully realized sound. Hunter’s vocals may be an important piece of the puzzle, but now the music, with its new textures, vast spaces, and wonderfully diverse atmospheres is just as easy to latch onto. The tried and true methods that art-inclined rockers have been employing for years are all present on Nootropics, but Lower Dens have given all those things a fresh take. In the modern music world where it seems bands are always evolving it is nice to hear a group take so many risks, not out of necessity to leave an imprint on the blogosphere, but rather as a natural and totally unforced function of growth.
Grade: B+
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