Review LOWLIVES “Freaking Out”

Grunge is dead. That was what many rock fans thought at the end of the 90s as the melancholic sound from Seattle slowly faded away, yet grunge never really disappeared. One band that is reviving the grunge spirit these days is Lowlives.

The four-piece consists of singer Lee Downer and drummer Luke Johnson, joined by guitarist Jaxon Moore and bassist Steve Lucarelli, who all share a love for grunge and alternative rock. “Freaking Out” is the band’s debut album and will be released in late May. Ten songs have made it onto the tracklist and what hits the eardrums is well-crafted and energetic music that refers to bands like Nirvana and Alice In Chains, but also has some alternative rock vibes embedded in it. Foo Fighters, for example, provided some of the Lowlives’ musical blueprint.

The title track is the first thing you get to hear and it’s a powerful riff monster bursting with energy. An anarchic spirit meets high-octane guitar rock, that is what the opener expresses. Even at this early stage Lee Downer’s husky vocals are remarkable, as there are some parallels to Kurt Cobain’s way of singing. Especially songs like “Swan Dive” and the last track “Vertigo” emphasise this similarity, the latter being an acoustic song with the typical grunge wistfulness.

The alternative rock moments are expressed in the dynamic “Getting High on being Low”, while the intensity of songs like “You Don’t Care” remind us of bands like Soundgarden. Mentioning all these bands doesn’t mean that Lowlives are copying any of them. It is more the same spirit and mindset that leads to similar music, but in an individual framework.

Melodic and rather light-hearted, in the context of this album, is “Closer Than You Know”, before “Damien” is another example of an excellent transition of the grunge spirit into the 2020s.

To sum up: “Freaking Out” brings back some grunge vibes and Lowlives transfer them into the here and now without losing the spirit of the grunge wave 30 years ago. These four guys show a lot of potential and it will be exciting to see where this band goes from here.