If you want to take the reactionary angle, Lower are a band that spits in the face of what's come before. In a band "just for fun?" Not Lower! Actually they might be, but all their music to date—which is spread across two 7-inches that have been put in front of us like that prank toy where you connect a dollar to a thin string and then snap it back when someone tries to pick it up off the ground—has been SERIOUS music that attacks paranoia and nihilism with a sense of world-ending passion. This is maybe not so different than what Swans do, but instead of pummeling our brains for 15-plus minutes, Lower condenses. Guitars whip and whirl, and Adrian Toubro sings like he's sermonizing from the top of a mountain that gives him the best vantage point of the apocalypse. "But There Has To Be More," as a song title, as a phrase, as a lifestyle, can actually be positive. Look for something better because it has to be there, right? Except Toubro doesn't seem so convinced. He starts out echoing the idea with maybe an inkling that it could be true in the back of his mind, and then the song ends and we're left with nothing to do but start it over. "But There Has To Be More" is the b-side from Lower's new 7-inch out November 20th on Escho. If you're in the US, get it here. Listen to the a-side here.
Stream: Lower, "But There Has To Be More"