Exclusive: Lower Dens Share Mythical, Polychromatic “Hand of God” Video
Photo by Torso
Baltimore alternative-pop band Lower Dens have shared a new video for “Hand of God,” taken from their 2019 album The Competition, available now on Ribbon Music. The video is premiering exclusively via Paste, and it was directed by Aaron Brown and Robby Piantanida. After supporting Of Monsters And Men on tour last year, they’re embarking on a headline tour this year, and you can view their upcoming tour dates below.
“Hand of God” is marked by fluttering electro-pop synths and vocalist Jana Hunter’s passionate croon. It’s a touching, danceable pop nugget that soars far beyond the plane of mortal existence. In the song, Hunter explains the dramatic, mythical saga that’s about to take place: “I am going on a journey ‘cause I’m very brave / I am risking all I have to hunt and conquer God.” The video is set in a colorful, nondescript dimension where we see the actual hands of God intervening.
“It’s like Cowboy Krautrock,” says Hunter. “Imagine a wild west adventure, like ‘City Slickers,’ with the star, a wealthy white man. He’s devised a way to conquer God. He has some kind of vaguely dangerous journey, then comes upon God and declares victory. In his hubris, he goes to shake God’s hand, at which time he is psychedelically humbled, his little brain imploding.”
Paste wrote of the album, “Much of the The Competition’s power lies in the way Hunter zooms in and out between perspectives—often on the same song. Like a master cinematographer, he frames certain lines as carefully backlit scenes within a greater narrative message.”