Lower Dens' Nootropics

Jana Hunter's second album as Lower Dens is spacey, trippy electro-drone, pretty far removed from her guitar-toting, freak folk beginnings. I like it though, especially "Nova Anthem," a song near the end that hovers like mist over a river, pearlized, indefinite and chillingly beautiful.

Here's my review of Nootropics, up today at Blurt:

Lower Dens
Nootropics
(Ribbon Music)

With 2010's Twin Hand Movement, sometime freak folk diva Jana Hunter immersed herself in the sonics of a full rock band, surrounding her clear, strange, road-weary voice in a glimmering web of guitar strumming, slithery bass and backlit drums. Her singing, which had, in solo albums, sounded like a lost girl group survivor, a muted cousin of Karen Dalton, an otherworldly siren, remained untouchable, but the sound was rough and grounded. Now, with the second Lower Dens album, Hunter has moved even further from her guitar-toting beginnings, bringing on Carton Tanton for the synthesizers, which, along with machine-precise drums, usher Nootropics into the neighborhood of Krautrock.

More

"Brains"

I interviewed Jana Hunter a long time ago for Neumu.

That Carton Tanton, he's everywhere, isn't he?