Lowertown - Ugly Duckling Union

Album Of The Week: Lowertown Ugly Duckling Union – Stereogum 

How Lowertown Got Back to Their Origins and Found Indie Magic – Rolling Stone 

“Somber yet intense” – Stereogum

“Lowertown’s compositions are built around surreal, sometimes cryptic imagery and emotional revelations” – FLOOD

“Luscious lo-fi indie bops” – DIY

“Lowertown are in possession of a delicate talent” – Beats Per Minute

“The latest in a generation of artists determined not to be defined by genre” – Notion

“Something both strangely familiar and all the more enticing” – Our Culture

“Blends soft-spoken lyricism bordering on avant-garde poetry and experimental indie rock instrumentation” – Ones to Watch

The songwriting partnership of Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg, the last few years saw the prolific pair teetering on the brink. From constant touring and a separation from their label to creative frustrations and an unhealthy attachment to one another, their artistic partnership and, more importantly, their friendship were on shaky ground—especially since these experiences were colored by the disorienting intensity of their late teens and early 20s. It became clear that the two had to revisit their roots.

Those roots trace back to Atlanta, Georgia: in the forests, the soon-to-be abandoned venues, the makeshift punk communities, to Weinberg’s family basement, but those roots also formed somewhere else entirely: the internet. The band grew up on Tumblr fanpages, Reddit forums, digital spaces that had not yet been corporatized. Places whose fandoms eventually leapt from the virtual to the physical, bringing people together to meet at concerts, coffee shops, and conventions to discuss their obsessions and connect over shared interests.

During the pandemic, they watched these places change, become commodified, and disappear; people no longer had these physical spaces to be solely amongst friends with shared interests where communities and fandoms could strengthen. Out of this vacuum, the Ugly Duckling Union was born.

Inspired by the conceptual creativity of bands like Gorillaz and the emphasis on the communal concert experience of Fugazi, Lowertown’s new album, fittingly titled Ugly Duckling Union, is the conceptual world of Dale the duckling protagonist and his companions as they attempt to band together to defeat LBH, a tyrannical media corporation set on separating and isolating in their pursuit of control.

Through the band’s online connection with fans, their Discord server with channels for their community to share their own art and talk to the band, and their Instagram and Youtube pages, where they have built a cult following, they have already begun to bridge the gap between the digital and physical. Lowertown shows are often giddily attended by those who have met through their web of online fandom. Ugly Duckling Union, accompanied by a conceptual story, a playable Minecraft world, a handbook, plush dolls, and drawn comics by Doctor Nowhere (Silas Orion), is creating the space to be obsessed together again.

On TOUR now, contact us with any requests!