The buzzy New York-based duo talks splitting from Dirty Hit, and finding their friendship again through their new LP, Ugly Duckling Union

Three years ago, Lowertown were in search of a reset. The New York-based indie rock duo were exhausted, reeling from a physically grueling tour in Europe which put a strain on their nearly decade-long friendship. So, in 2023, they traveled back to their hometown of Atlanta.

While they were there, Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg found exactly what they needed to keep their band alive. The two 24-year-olds returned to the basics, holding sessions in their respective Atlanta basements to remind them why they started Lowertown eight years ago. It was there, in the same environment where they used to track songs as teenagers, that Ugly Duckling Union — the band’s third LP, and first in four years — was born. 

“The album was kind of the reestablishing of our friendship,” Weinberg tells Rolling Stone. Osby sits beside him in the Airbnb where they’re staying in Toronto after their show there the night before. Their closeness, and deep respect for one another, is apparent even over a video call as they recount their shared history.

That first 2023 jam session in Atlanta was not only crucial for the bandmates to reconnect with each other — it also yielded album opener “Mice Protection,” which is out today ahead of the album’s release on Friday. The pair were just jamming out when Weinberg laid down an idea for a guitar line and Osby was struck with inspiration, instantly reciting lyrics over the chords. “That was the first one where we were like, ‘This is it,’” Osby says. “We realized this was a song that was finished and beautiful.” On the track, Osby sings, “Maybe I’m a baby that’s just been born/New and fresh” over a folky guitar with the textured sounds of hands clapping on a wooden table in the background.

“It feels like a classic Lowertown song,” Weinberg says. “We wanted it to feel like how we felt when we made that first album where it was just the two of us and no outside influence.”

Lowertown know how important it is to protect their vision, especially given their early rise as a buzzy indie rock band. After meeting in a high school math class, Osby and Weinberg formed the band in 2018, naming themselves after a town in Canada. A year later, they released their debut album, Friends, and subsequently got the attention of Dirty Hit, the English indie label that launched the 1975. Lowertown were still teens when they signed a record deal with the label, kickstarting their career. With the 2022 release of I Love to Lie, the pair hit the ground running on the touring circuit, opening for artists like Wet Leg and beabadoobee.

The band easily fit into those opening slots with their indie rock music in the vein of Alex G. But ever since coming out of the Atlanta DIY scene, Lowertown have always blurred the boundaries of genre, infusing folk, country, rock, and a punk ethos into their songs. “It’s all very eccentric, eclectic music,” Weinberg says, describing their hometown. During their early shows as a band, they were often part of mixed bills that featured both rappers and screamo bands. “That really influenced us a lot and allowed us to not feel like we had to be releasing music within a genre,” he adds. 

Lowertown learned in time that a bold creative vision like that isn’t the easiest to preserve. “Within bigger label systems, it’s a little bit more difficult if you’re not going within a specific genre,” Weinberg says. In 2023, the duo left Dirty Hit, choosing to go it alone in order to maintain their creative integrity. “[When] you involve money and a bunch of other people, it’s easy to slip out of the pureeness of it,” Osby says. “We didn’t like how many hands were on everything… We like to keep things small.”

The band did exactly that on Ugly Duckling Union. Weinberg self-produced the record, and he and Osby are the only ones credited, besides their mixer. It’s a testament to their deep connection. “We’ve never found a place that we fully feel like is our home besides each other,” Osby says. 

Lowertown wants fans to experience a similar sense of belonging when they listen to Ugly Duckling Union. Over 12 songs, the band delivers a concept album that centers on an outsider duckling named Dale who must fight against corporate powers in order to hold onto his individuality and protect his community of free thinkers. “The spirit of this [album] is a home for anyone who doesn’t feel like they have one,” Osby says. Lowertown have created a whole interactive element to the album with a playable Minecraft world, a handbook, plush dolls, and even comics by Doctor Nowhere (a.k.a. digital artist Silas Orion). 

As genreless musicians who were once teens searching for a place to call their own in online spaces like Tumblr and YouTube, it’s important for the duo to provide fans with a safe space where they feel they belong. This sense of community is strongly displayed at Lowertown’s live shows. Over the years, fans of the band who met online have formed real-life friendships at their concerts. “Our shows have become a place for people like that to find friends and to feel at home and to find community,” Osby says.

Lowertown’s main mission going forward is to keep that community thriving, one live show at a time. The band will wrap their U.S. tour in late June in New York, their homebase for the last few years, before crossing the pond for another trek around Europe. For this round, they’re ready for the obstacles that touring overseas can bring for an indie act. “We’re getting a tour manager this time,” Weinberg says. “So no one can stop us.”