{"id":678222,"date":"2026-05-18T20:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/678222\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:51:10","slug":"lowertown-interview-indie-duo-talk-new-album-ugly-duckling-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/678222\/","title":{"rendered":"Lowertown Interview: Indie Duo Talk New Album ‘Ugly Duckling Union’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThree years ago, Lowertown<\/a> were in search of a reset. The New York-based indie rock<\/a> duo were exhausted, reeling from a physically grueling tour in Europe which put a strain on their nearly decade-long friendship. So, in 2023, they traveled back to their hometown of Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile they were there, Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg found exactly what they needed to keep their band alive. The two 24-year-olds returned to the basics, holding sessions in their respective Atlanta basements to remind them why they started Lowertown eight years ago. It was there, in the same environment where they used to track songs as teenagers, that Ugly Duckling Union \u2014 the band\u2019s third LP, and first in four years \u2014 was born.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe album was kind of the reestablishing of our friendship,\u201d Weinberg tells Rolling Stone. Osby sits beside him in the Airbnb where they\u2019re staying in Toronto after their show there the night before. Their closeness, and deep respect for one another, is apparent even over a video call as they recount their shared history.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat first 2023 jam session in Atlanta was not only crucial for the bandmates to reconnect with each other \u2014 it also yielded album opener \u201cMice Protection,\u201d which is out today ahead of the album\u2019s release on Friday. The pair were just jamming out when Weinberg laid down an idea for a guitar line and Osby was struck with inspiration, instantly reciting lyrics over the chords. \u201cThat was the first one where we were like, \u2018This is it,\u2019\u201d Osby says. \u201cWe realized this was a song that was finished and beautiful.\u201d On the track, Osby sings, \u201cMaybe I\u2019m a baby that\u2019s just been born\/New and fresh\u201d over a folky guitar with the textured sounds of hands clapping on a wooden table in the background.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt feels like a classic Lowertown song,\u201d Weinberg says. \u201cWe wanted it to feel like how we felt when we made that first album where it was just the two of us and no outside influence.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLowertown know how important it is to protect their vision, especially given their early rise as a buzzy indie rock band. After meeting in a high school math class, Osby and Weinberg formed the band in 2018, naming themselves after a town in Canada. A year later, they released their debut album, Friends, and subsequently got the attention of Dirty Hit, the English indie label that launched the 1975. Lowertown were still teens when they signed a record deal with the label, kickstarting their career. With the 2022 release of I Love to Lie, the pair hit the ground running on the touring circuit, opening for artists like Wet Leg<\/a> and beabadoobee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe band easily fit into those opening slots with their indie rock music in the vein of Alex G. But ever since coming out of the Atlanta DIY scene, Lowertown have always blurred the boundaries of genre, infusing folk, country, rock, and a punk ethos into their songs. \u201cIt\u2019s all very eccentric, eclectic music,\u201d Weinberg says, describing their hometown. During their early shows as a band, they were often part of mixed bills that featured both rappers and screamo bands. \u201cThat really influenced us a lot and allowed us to not feel like we had to be releasing music within a genre,\u201d he adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLowertown learned in time that a bold creative vision like that isn\u2019t the easiest to preserve. \u201cWithin bigger label systems, it\u2019s a little bit more difficult if you\u2019re not going within a specific genre,\u201d Weinberg says. In 2023, the duo left Dirty Hit, choosing to go it alone in order to maintain their creative integrity. \u201c[When] you involve money and a bunch of other people, it\u2019s easy to slip out of the pureeness of it,\u201d Osby says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t like how many hands were on everything\u2026 We like to keep things small.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe band did exactly that on Ugly Duckling Union. Weinberg self-produced the record, and he and Osby are the only ones credited, besides their mixer. It\u2019s a testament to their deep connection. \u201cWe\u2019ve never found a place that we fully feel like is our home besides each other,\u201d Osby says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tLowertown wants fans to experience a similar sense of belonging when they listen to Ugly Duckling Union. Over 12 songs, the band delivers a concept album that centers on an outsider duckling named Dale who must fight against corporate powers in order to hold onto his individuality and protect his community of free thinkers. \u201cThe spirit of this [album] is a home for anyone who doesn\u2019t feel like they have one,\u201d Osby says. Lowertown have created a whole interactive element to the album with a playable Minecraft world, a handbook, plush dolls, and even comics<\/a> by Doctor Nowhere (a.k.a. digital artist Silas Orion).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tAs genreless musicians who were once teens searching for a place to call their own in online spaces like Tumblr and YouTube, it\u2019s important for the duo to provide fans with a safe space where they feel they belong. This sense of community is strongly displayed at Lowertown\u2019s live shows. Over the years, fans of the band who met online have formed real-life friendships at their concerts. \u201cOur shows have become a place for people like that to find friends and to feel at home and to find community,\u201d Osby says.<\/p>\n

\n\tLowertown\u2019s main mission going forward is to keep that community thriving, one live show at a time. The band will wrap their U.S. tour in late June in New York, their homebase for the last few years, before crossing the pond for another trek around Europe. For this round, they\u2019re ready for the obstacles that touring overseas<\/a> can bring for an indie act. \u201cWe\u2019re getting a tour manager this time,\u201d Weinberg says. \u201cSo no one can stop us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three years ago, Lowertown were in search of a reset. The New York-based indie rock duo were exhausted,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,24430,249281,341],"class_list":["post-678222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-indie-rock","tag-lowertown","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}