Ugly Duckling Union, the third full-length from New York-based duo Lowertown, Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg, is set to drop May 22nd via Summer Shade, but it’s already produced a handful of our phavorite songs of 2026. This includes lead single “I Like You A Lot,” a ‘90s-alt-rocky love song about the kind of charmingly quirky obsessiveness brought on by your #1 Crush, and follow-up single “Big Thumb,” a folk track that’s very much the product of Olivia’s own obsession with collecting newspaper clippings to serve as lyrical inspiration. This past Wednesday, April 22nd, Lowertown dropped “Worst Friend,” the most recent single from Ugly Duckling Union, an Americana song inspired by the collaborations of June and Johnny Cash and Dylan and Baez. This coming Tuesday, April 28th, Lowertown kick off two months of headlining dates at The Loft at Warehouse on Watts. I recently got a chance to catch up with Avsha and Olivia to talk about the new album, upcoming tour, and just how things have been going since the last time we talked, almost four years ago.
Izzy Cihak: The last time we spoke was in October of 2022, just prior to the release of I Love To Lie and your tour with beabadoobee. This is a huge question, but what were some of the personal highlights of that album cycle? I know you did release an additional EP shortly after the full-length, as well.
Avsha Weinberg: Wow, we had so many highlights from that album cycle. The fans were definitely a highlight, we still have so many people come to shows that first saw us on the beabadoobee tour. They were some of the most open-minded people, it was a really good environment especially as it was our third tour that year, so we were already exhausted. The Halloween show was so memorable, playing Variety Playhouse in our hometown Atlanta and being able to dress up like ghouls and cover ourselves in fake blood, it was very special. I got a nice cane too.
Olivia Osby: That was one of the craziest and most rockstar periods of my life. So chaotic and free and almost teetering on the verge of falling apart at any moment. Hoping to recapture that energy and more with this album cycle. Maybe with less angst and self-destruction. I remember during that period was the first time I picked up flute. My mom got me a used student flute for my birthday that year and it’s the one I still use to this day. I love it. It’s like my baby. I also remember turning 21 on stage at 9:30 Club in DC, which was maybe the second or third show of that tour. Which felt pretty legendary to me. My band and tour manager at the time brought out a cake and surprised me and got everyone in the audience to sing happy birthday to me. I felt so loved. Me and our bassist Eva both got skateboards on the last date of the previous tour, and I remember cruising on it everywhere all across different random places in North America during the bea tour. It was so fun.
Izzy: I know that, since the last album, you’ve gone through sort of a lot of transformations both as individuals and how you work as a duo, so I’m curious how you think this LP, Ugly Duckling Union, compares to I Love To Lie? I know it’s a concept album of sorts and that the two of you wrote, recorded, produced, and mixed everything on your own.
Avsha: This feels more connected to our very first album, Friends. Since putting that album out and getting signed, we have been recording with producers and deadlines and people relying on us, and so with having full control over this album, recording in the basement of my house with no deadlines at all, we were able to experiment and channel that initial contextless songwriting that we had on our first album. It’s strictly essentials, and it’s always important that you can hear our friendship in the music, our upbringing together, our history as Lowertown, and I think you can.
Izzy: There’s a link on your website to “Join the U.D.U,” so I’m curious what that entails? Is that related to all of the multimedia content (the conceptual story, the playable Minecraft world, the handbook, the plush dolls, and the comics) that accompany the album, or is that a whole different aspect?
Olivia: There’s many ways you can be a part of Ugly Duckling Union. We have a number (+1 470- 762-3070) that signs you up for all the secret things we’ve been doing and will be doing in the future. We have a Discord that is the inside internet community that we hang on. It’s a very sweet place. Also, conceptually we have a lot of pieces that tie into this world. Like the story of our protagonist “Dale” who embodies the ethos and central theme of the album, as well as the comic book we’re making with our talented friend Silas (Doctor Nowhere), plus a ton of other things we’ve been cooking up. U.D.U. is a place in many different realms. It’s energy and light and cohesion.
Avsha: The story of Dale the Duckling ends with him forming the Ugly Duckling Union, and so it’s sort of that feeling of community that we’re trying to focus on like building the online community spaces on Minecraft and Discord and making the live show a real community space.
Izzy: I know you’ve been hosting fan activations with each single drop. How have they gone so far? Is it a different experience with every single?
Lowertown: They’ve been so much fun. We first played a free DIY show at a dive bar in Ridgewood with a bunch of New York and Philly bands we love for our first single. Then, we had a really sick secret show in a repurposed laundromat, and we’ve been shipping USBs and then CDs with rips of upcoming singles shipped to record stores around the country that can only be accessed with a password. It feels like the type of immersive stuff that made us fall in love with bands as we were growing up. Being surrounded by a community of people who are just as obsessed as you are about something is one of the most special feelings in the world. The central focus of each drop is to do something that focuses on that special feeling of community created through art.
Izzy: Last month you put out a really cool official video for “Big Thumb” with Jack Haven. How did that video come about?
Avsha: That video rocks so much. I had gotten close with Jack and actually helped score their directorial feature debut, October Crow, so I knew that they were an absolute creative powerhouse. We told them we had a small budget, would you want to direct something on the new album? They said yes and that actually they had been wanting to work with their SFX friend Caroline Mills, who had an incredibly elaborate old man prosthetic that they wanted to practice on me. I ended up sitting in the makeup chair for 7 hours, and I looked so crazy as an old man, we decided to center the music video around the old man.
Izzy: You recently signed to Summer Shade, which I just realized is a part of Run For Cover, which is obviously a super amazing label. How has it been working with Summer Shade and getting to be part of that intimate family?
Lowertown: It’s been super nice! They’re really supportive and give us full reign to be as freaky and creative as we want to be.
Izzy: I’m embarrassed to admit that I haven’t seen Lowertown since the show with beabadoobee at Union Transfer (Although I was at the Olivia O. show at Kung Fu Necktie, which was totally great.), but I’m super excited that you’re kicking off your upcoming tour right here! What can be expected of the brand-new headlining show?
Avsha: We’ve put so much effort into levelling up each tour we play, and this one is our most thought out. The show is separated into 3 acts bookended by poems written by Olive. The acts flow from the crazier, more aggressive music (I won’t spoil the setlist), into our more beautiful stuff throughout our 3 albums and 2 EPs.
Olivia: It feels like a set that really showcases our range. We’ve pushed ourselves learning some of these newer songs and evolved some of the songs to further limits than on the recordings. Everything is stylized and conceptual. The visual aspects of this tour have been meticulously thought out as well. It feels like all the time and energy we’ve put into performing over these years has culminated in this tour. We’ve thought about every detail!
Izzy: You’re going to be on the road with villagerrr, who I actually just saw in the smaller room of Warehouse on Watts with Teethe… What are your thoughts on Mark Scott and his crew? Are you excited to spend some time on the road with them?
Olivia: I’m a huge fan of the music! I was stoked when they were down to support this leg of tour. I got to see them open with Teethe as well because I happened to be in Atlanta the same time that tour came through town, and they were great. It’ll be very cool to share the stage together.
Izzy: When we talked in fall of 2022, you mentioned being really excited to play a lot of cities that you’d never played before. So, I’m curious, with a lot more touring experience under your belts, if there are any cities or venues you’re especially excited to revisit?
Avsha: It’s so crazy that that was the last time we spoke. We’ve toured and grown so much since that tour. We’re so excited to be headlining Bowery Ballroom in NYC, we’ve supported bands there many times, so it’ll be a full circle moment. We always have a really crazy time in Texas, we love playing San Antonio, and I love the drive through the southwest so that stretch will be very special. We actually haven’t headlined all of Florida since the beabadobee tour, and that’s always like touring in a different country. That’ll be special.
Olivia: I’m so excited to play Montreal again. Every time we play there people get it so hard and go crazy. I love Canada. I’m half Canadian. My Dad grew up in Ottawa, and our band is named after a part of Ottawa that we visited when we were 16. We’ll be playing Ottawa for the first time ever on this tour. I can’t wait! Also, I’m always excited for Atlanta! Hometown show! We will always be excited to play Atlanta. ATL for life.
*Get your tickets here.
