Daily Dose: Lower Dens, “I Drive”

Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team.

Lower Dens have shared the music video for “I Drive,” a new single that will appear on their forthcoming album The Competition, out Sept. 6 via Ribbon Music.

The Baltimore-based indie-pop duo, made up of Jana Hunter (lead vocals) and Nate Nelson (drums), recently released the single “Young Republicans,” which will also be featured on The Competition.

The video for “I Drive” is shot entirely in black and white, and depicts Hunter grooving with backup dancers to Lower Dens’ssignature disco-pop. “Why can’t we be with the ones were made to love?” Hunter sings.

Regarding the new single, Hunter said in a statement:

Like a lot of queer and trans people, I’ve learned that real family is made, and it isn’t necessarily blood. Even my blood relatives, we work for that familial connection and trust. This song is about leaving behind obligations to people who don’t love or care about you, being with and about people who do. It’s a feeling so strong it’s driving me. That’s the driving I’m doing.

Hunter’s pronouns (they/them, him/his) and identity are important to the themes of the forthcoming record, which center around senses of self. According to a press release, the title The Competition refers to competition as the driving force of modern capitalism.