New York duo Lowertown have released ‘Big Thumb,’ the latest preview of their upcoming album Ugly Duckling Union, arriving May 22nd via Summer Shade. Moving away from the high-pressure orbit of their early career, Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg describe the track as a creative return to their makeshift DIY roots in Atlanta. Built around an “unkempt folk-jazz murmur,” the song features Weinberg’s heartfelt 12-string guitar work and Osby’s lush, haunting harmonica melodies. The track arrives with a surreal music video directed by Jack Haven, capturing the disorienting intensity of a generation navigating a world where traditional paths have largely evaporated.
Of the single, Weinberg describes,
“‘Big Thumb’ was written during Olive’s obsession with collecting newspaper clippings and found pieces of writing. She had always wanted to write a song in the way the 90’s industrial scene had by using newspaper clippings to inspire lyrics. Olive collected many different clippings and writings for us and spread them out on the ground, so that when we would begin to play together, Olive on harmonica and me on 12-string guitar, we could sing the words that inspired us most,”
She continues,
What stuck was an almost mantra-like repetition of the words ‘Holding out the Big Thumb’ which became the song’s conceptual core. The song became a reflection on the feeling of directionlessness in our generation, and how the paths of life that were carved out for previous generations are now void. We are left to drift along aimlessly or hopefully carve out some brand-new path.”
The songwriting for ‘Big Thumb’ was born out of a unique, industrial-inspired experiment. Osby spent weeks collecting found writings and newspaper clippings, which the pair spread across the floor to inspire their lyrics in real-time. This “mantra-like” process resulted in a reflection on directionlessness and the vacuum left behind as digital and physical communities become increasingly commodified. To support the new record, Lowertown will embark on an extensive North American tour beginning April 28th in Philadelphia, hitting major stops like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta before a hometown finale at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on June 27th.
