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9.1
40871
9.1 |
Pretty Much Amazing
Lower Dens’ first album was a fantastic collection of songs that established the bands ability to plunge from carefully crafted rock melodies into psychedelic moments of dark beauty; somehow, Nootropics is able to dive even deeper
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8.8
40946
8.8 |
Paste Magazine
Nootropics demands specific emotions, forcing perhaps unwanted reactions out of the cracks, while inspiring a wealth of spine-tingling elation
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8.5
40608
8.5 |
Bowlegs
Points determinedly forwards, eroding the edge of conventional song structure, diffusing and liquefying rocks narratives and personas. It’s all we can do to bathe in its wake
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8.2
40847
8.2 |
Pitchfork
This is one of those albums that creates its own little sound world, and a lot of its appeal has to do with qualities like texture and atmosphere
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8.0
40679
8.0 |
Mojo
Ambitious, hypnagogic, Kraftwerk/shoegaze hybrid. Print edition only
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8.0
40893
8.0 |
Art Rocker
The album builds up a moody ambience that’s compelling
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8.0
40899
8.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
If neighbors and former tour mates Beach House are dream pop, then with Nootropics, Lower Dens are nightmare pop
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8.0
40665
8.0 |
Uncut
A slow burn that lingers long. Print edition only
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8.0
40606
8.0 |
musicOMH
An achingly beautiful and immersive album
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8.0
40607
8.0 |
The Skinny
One of the most finely composed records we’ve heard this year
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8.0
40708
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
If Lower Dens continue to make music at the same rate of progression, the likely excellence of their next record is almost unthinkable. Nootropics is one class act to follow
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8.0
40734
8.0 |
The Fly
At times redolent of Beach House and Thom Yorke, their minimalist throb is challenging at first
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8.0
40760
8.0 |
DIY
All at once absorbing and distant ‘Nootropics’ is not an entirely different beast from ‘Twin-Hand Movement’ but its refined edges, percussion heavy sounds and understated opulence find the band’s sonic landscape revitalised
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8.0
40768
8.0 |
Under The Radar
An intriguing, ambitious set of songs that reward those who opt for full immersion, rather than cherry-picking tracks, with each listen
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8.0
40979
8.0 |
BBC
Adding electronics to an already complex equation might suggest angular songs but these are sleek soothing balms sombrely and meticulously crafted to usher the listener in
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8.0
42257
8.0 |
hhv.de mag
The more consciously you listen to the album, the less concrete are the images it is depicting
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7.5
41718
7.5 |
Beats Per Minute
A dense record, but never hopelessly deep
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7.5
40861
7.5 |
A.V. Club
As a breathtaking study in grayscale minimalism, Nootropics is exquisite. But it dissipates the instant it touches air
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7.0
40868
7.0 |
Prefix
The soupy textures are largely achieved through whirring keyboards and synthesizers instead of the band’s past dual-guitar construction
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7.0
40906
7.0 |
Blurt
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
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7.0
40785
7.0 |
Drowned In Sound
It’s undoubtedly complex, awkward and occasionally without direction, but it also produces moments of astonishing splendour, each with the capacity to bring neck hairs bristling to attention
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7.0
41267
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
As you might guess of a gal who titled her 2005 solo album Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom, Lower Dens frontwoman Jana Hunter has some goth in her
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6.0
41914
6.0 |
Loud And Quiet
It’s the sound of a band that has its aesthetic nailed, but a little short on all the bliss
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6.0
42770
6.0 |
Entertainment.ie
Lower Dens have produced a work bathed in texture. It ebbs and flows. It grows. It is meandering yet carefully crafted, ethereal yet grounded
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6.0
40675
6.0 |
Q
More expansive than it has any right to be. Print edition only
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6.0
40694
6.0 |
The Irish Times
If there’s a flaw, it’s the flagrant self-indulgence on display
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