Lower Dens - Escape From Evil

Lower Dens
Escape From Evil
2015

There are occasionally those albums where all you hear is good things. Not a bad word is uttered about a record but when you finally get a chance to listen you have no idea what everyone was talking about. Escape From Evil by Lower Dens is one of those albums. Pitchfork loved it, and I really cannot see why. The music is so overtly derivative and so overly synthesized that it comes across as hollow. I can't find any soul in this album aside from the occasional vocal run that the singer goes on. I'm not sure if the praise coming at this record is based on the music or based on some sort of desire to be on top of what is "cool". Listening track by track I get the sense that it may just be the latter.

The one track on the record that did strike me was "Societe Anonyme", the final track on the album. This song has a great beat and really well done use of the synths. Where they overpower the rest of the album with 80s, this track has more of a light touch and it really comes across. One track does not an album make. This record does not work on quite a few levels, despite its critical acclaim. This album has many of the elements of something that I would like but when they come together it is just a miss.

4 out of 10