New York duo Lowertown have shared the final preview of their upcoming album Ugly Duckling Union with the release of new single Mice Protection, arriving ahead of the record’s release this Friday via Summer Shade. Alongside the single, the band have also confirmed a fresh run of UK and European live dates for September, including appearances in Dublin, Manchester, Bristol and London.
Lowertown
Comprised of longtime collaborators Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg, Lowertown have steadily built a cult following through their genre-warping blend of lo-fi indie rock, folk, punk attitude and surreal storytelling. Their latest material continues that evolution, pushing further into emotionally raw territory while embracing a larger conceptual world around the new album.
According to the band, Mice Protection was the first song written for Ugly Duckling Union and marked a turning point creatively after an emotionally turbulent few years. Following relentless touring schedules, personal upheaval and major changes in their professional lives, Osby and Weinberg found themselves reassessing both their friendship and the future of the project.
“We had to reevaluate our relationship within music and the band,” they explain. “It was the first time back in a basement studio and the first time we realised we knew the direction for the new album.”
The song’s title references the rat-infested house where much of the album was recorded, while lyrically it introduces many of the themes explored across the record — morality, shifting perspectives, personal darkness and emotional duality. Sonically, the track captures Lowertown at their most expansive yet, balancing ragged indie rock textures with hushed introspection and bursts of noisy catharsis.
Ugly Duckling Union arrives as perhaps the duo’s most ambitious statement to date. Inspired by the communal spirit of underground music scenes and the imaginative world-building of projects like Gorillaz, the album introduces listeners to a conceptual universe centred around a duckling protagonist named Dale and a rebellion against a fictional corporation known as LBH. The project extends far beyond music, incorporating comics, plush toys, a playable Minecraft world and an active fan community built through the band’s online platforms.
Despite the album’s conceptual scope, its emotional core remains deeply personal. Written, produced and mixed entirely by Osby and Weinberg themselves, the record reflects the pair’s commitment to independence and DIY creativity — qualities that have defined Lowertown since emerging from Atlanta’s underground scene in their teens.
The duo are currently touring North America before heading overseas later this year. Their upcoming UK and Ireland dates include a slot at Manchester Psych Fest and a headline appearance at London’s Oslo.
UK & Ireland Tour Dates:
SEPTEMBER
1st – Dublin, The Grand Social
3rd – Leeds, Belgrave Music Hall
4th – Glasgow, Nice N Sleazy
5th – Manchester Psych Fest, YES Basement
6th – Bristol, Exchange
7th – London, Oslo
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