Lowlands

Post-cool or too old to care? The Lovely Basement say that they set out to mix alt-country with the Velvet Underground. They also say they failed, but quite like the result. So, what do you find in The Lovely Basement? A beautiful slice of alt-country-style. Americana, infused with the sensibilities of the aforementioned Velvet Underground – and a chopping guitar that wouldn’t sound out of place on an album by the VU’s British counterpart, Fairport Convention. 

Since the release in 2019 of their first album, Just Because You Can, The Lovely Basement have drawn admiring glances from all over the place: “the sweetness of Yo La Tengo and the raggedness of The Pastels”; “not dissimilar to Paisley Underground veterans the Dream Syndicate”; “tossing off songs withthe looseness of early Faces”.

he single Cornstalk Girl was the first offering from Lowlands and was picked up by Radio 6 Music’s Gideon Coe, a long-time supporter of the band’s output. Mention was also given to the “excellent” B-side cover of Beat Happening’s Angel Gone. Vocals for the album were recorded by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Howe Gelb, Eels) who stumbled across the band playing live locally and stayed!

Like all Lovely Basement records, Lowlands eloquently covers a range of subjects. From musings on sentience, inequality, globalisation, even theology, to the deep need to hunker down with good friends when the world outside gets too much, all find an often wry voice in this shimmering collection of finely crafted songs.