“The Gaping Mouth” is the title track of Lowertown’s upcoming EP. The EP is themed, like a lot of current art, on the topic of living in isolation due to the pandemic. If this single is a glimpse of what is to come from the whole EP it certainly reflects that idea.
Lowertown, is made up of nineteen year old best friends Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg. The duo has been producing music since they met in high school. They started out from a DIY basement studio, and have since built up a following and a discography. Their debut release was in 2019. Osby is a self taught singer-songwriter and Weinberg is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist. The band’s style brings together both of these backgrounds, in a mix of music that runs from casual to highly polished.
The piece begins with a low electronic drone. Over this builds Weinberg’s plucked acoustic guitar line and a rushed string of breathy lyrics from Osby. The intensity grows throughout the song, with alarm-like noises occasionally piercing through, culminating with the addition of gritty electric guitar. The song itself has less than a traditional lyrical structure. There are sections and repetition, but not clear verses, which only adds to the frantic and raw feeling of the piece. “The Gaping Mouth” is an outpouring of sound shaped into a song.
The release of this new single also features an accompanying music video directed by Zachary Bailey. The video brings a note of the unstintingly grotesque to the song, shifting the building intensity to a building of dread. The images reveal more in the existential horror of the song. It is definitely worth the watch, though be cautious if blood, body horror or vomiting are likely to upset you more than average.
Keep an eye out for the rest of The Gaping Mouth EP releasing September 16th!
