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Jul 16, 2015 By Christopher Roberts Lower Dens

Lower Dens have released a video for “Sucker’s Shangri-La.” In the Zachary Treitz-directed clip an older Asian man sings along to the song in a karaoke bar, except that we hear the voice of Lower Dens’ frontwoman Jana Hunter. Hunter also appears on the karaoke screens. The song can be found on the band’s latest album, Escape From Evil, which is out now via Ribbon Music.

In a press release, Treitz had this to say about the video: “The karaoke bars in my neighborhood have these filler videos as a background for the American pop songs. Most of them seem like they’re made in less than a day, start to finish, and they follow a basic formula, even though they’re unique to each song: girl, cars, body of water, shots of architecture. We made our own one with Jana in Baltimore, which was a lot of fun because once you’re in the mindset of those videos you start to see great shots everywhere that would otherwise seem terrible. But the music video itself takes place at a Chinatown karaoke bar, with the incredible Hiro Xu singing along to the video we made with Jana.”

Hunter will also be giving at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston on Thursday, August 6. The lecture is titled after a quote by Nina Simone, “How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?” In a press release Hunter had this to say about her lecture: “Music in America and the West in general has a strong tradition of powerful, honest, and simple critiques of injustice. Delivered in some of the best songs written to date, messages have been presented to the listening public in ways that both moved communities and progressed policy. As the world of populist music has grown increasingly commercial, political messages have been relegated to its fringes and all but disappeared. With the help of friends, we’ll examine this long and storied history, its effects, the reasons why it’s vanishing, and what to do about it.”

Check out the video below, followed by Lower Dens’ upcoming tour dates.

Lower Dens Tour Dates:

07-16 Cincinnati, OH - MOTR Pub ~
07-17 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop ~
07-18 Louisville, KY - Forecastle Festival
07-19 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall (Official Pitchfork Festival Afterparty) $
07-21 Minneapolis, MN - 7th St Entry ~
07-24 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios ~
07-25 Vancouver, BC - Electric Owl ~
07-26 Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
07-28 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge ~
07-29 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge ~
07-31 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre (GorillavsBear Festival)
08-01 Austin, TX - The Mohawk (GorillavsBear Festival)
08-03 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks ~
08-04 Atlanta, GA - The Earl ~
08-05 Raleigh, NC - Kings ~
08-07 Houston, TX - Contemporary Museum of Arts Houston
08-13 New York, NY - Museum of Modern Art (Summer Nights Music Series)
08-21 Los Angeles, CA - Echo (FYF Festival Sideshows)*
08-22 to 08-23 Los Angeles, CA - FYF Festival
09-26 Baltimore, MD - Druid Hill Festival
09-27 Kingston, NY - BSP Kingston #
09-28 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #
09-30 Toronto, ON - Legendary Horseshoe Tavern #
10-01 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place #
10-02 Arden, DE - Gild Hall #
10-03 Pittsburgh, PA - Spirit Hall (Via Festival)
10-17 to 10-18 San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Music Festival
10-24 Bristol, UK - Simple Things Festival
10-25 Manchester, UK - The Deaf Institute
10-26 Dublin, IE - The Sugar Club
10-27 Glasgow, UK - King Tuts
10-28 Leeds, UK - The Brudenell Social Club
10-29 London, UK - Scala
10-31 Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso (London Calling)
11-01 Brussels, BE - AB-Box (Autumn Falls)
11-02 Hamburg, DE - Hafenklang
11-04 Copenhagen, DK - Loppen
11-05 Aarhus, DK - Radar
11-06 Lund, SE - Mejeriet
11-07 Oslo, NO - Parkteatret
11-08 Stockholm, SE - Lilla Hotellbaren
11-10 Berlin, DE - Bi Nuu
11-11 Prague, CZ - MeetFactory
11-12 Vienna, AT - Arena
11-13 Munich, DE - Feierwerk
11-14 St. Gallen, CH - Palace
11-15 Zurich, CH - Exil
11-17 Lausanne, CH - Le Romandie
11-18 Lyon, FR - Sonic
11-19 Barcelona, ES - La Apolo
11-20 Madrid, ES - El Cielo
11-21 Lisboa, PT - ZDB
11-22 Braga, PT - GNRation
11-24 Paris, FR - Badaboum

~ with Young Ejecta
$ with How To Dress Well
* with Empress Of
# with Abdu Ali