Lower Dens: "Ondine"

If Lower Dens’ upcoming third album, Escape From Evil, is the Baltimore dream-pop band’s most forthright, openly expressive album to date, “Ondine” is its bruised, tender-to-the-touch, emotional core. On the surface, it’s an exemplar of the album’s smoothly contoured, orderly sound—all metronomic drum beats, synth sheen, and glassy guitar lines—but inside, Jana Hunter is a mess.

“Ondine” chronicles the immediate aftermath of a failed relationship, stewing in that helpless feeling of watching a lover walk out the door and knowing there’s nothing you can do or say to make them turn around. But just because it’s a break-up song doesn’t necessarily mean it’s about heartbreak—rather, Hunter assumes the rueful perspective of the person responsible for fucking it all up. When she repeats the song’s devastatingly desperate refrain—”I will treat you better”—it feels less like a pledge of commitment than an aching reminder of the unspoken indiscretions that have her begging for a second chance that won’t soon be granted.

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