Downward w/ Warper + Summer of Peril

About this show

Lost Lake Presents Downward with Warper and Summer of Peril on Saturday, August 8th. It was just over a year ago that Downward made a bold mission statement with the release of their second full-length. Arriving seven years after their eponymous debut, Downward II is a record that the Tulsa trio—vocalist/guitarist Drew Richardson, bassist Severin Olsen and drummer Tollie Pugh—still consider what they’ve termed their “second debut”. In other words, it’s the first record that they’ve released that they feel accurately captures who they are. Now, thanks to Pure Noise Records, that second debut is getting a second release, with two bonus tracks thrown in for good measure. Formed while Richardson and Pugh were still at school, Downward evolved quickly from what the former terms a “kind of shitty in a cool way” shoegaze band into the band who captured themselves on Downward II—a dark, paranoid and lugubrious reflection of reality that seeps into your bones from the moment opener “Request Made” kicks things off. Beautiful yet simultaneously unsettling, these are songs that, on paper, should offer some kind of soothing comfort, but which instead combine to make you question your entire existence. In a cool way. Recorded and engineered by Kendal Osborne at The Closet Studios in Tulsa, Downward II—which was made with guitarist Hunter Senft, who has since left the band—leaves a deep and dark impression that’s hard to shake once you’ve heard it. Poetic yet unabashedly honest, these songs are pure catharsis, subtle yet powerful expressions of self on which form completely mirrors function, guitars exploding like breaking hearts after quiet whispered confessions build up to breaking point. Still, then and now combine to ferocious effect on this album, as does that omnipresent threat of oblivion looming on Oklahoma’s horizon. Of course, Downward use that feeling and those emotions in a more general sense, so that they transcend that initial inspiration to represent both a more universal existential malaise and more personal emotions. It’s what makes this record a complete listening experience, a perfect snapshot of a time and place in the band’s lives, a harrowing yet comforting journey through a world that both is and isn’t your own. “They’re a little bit faster and a little bit higher energy than what's largely on the album,” says Richardson. “I think we kind of wanted to stretch our legs a little bit.” It also serves as another marker between then and now—the emphatic reflection on what was and the potential for what could and will be in the future with the backing of Pure Noise. “This definitely feels validating to the 16 and 17 year-old versions of us who were making Downward I,” says Richardson. “At that time, there was no roadmap at all. There was no horizon. And I still just want to continue making music that’s true to us. And I would hope that it ignites somebody somewhere to do the same, to just make the music that's in your heart and try as hard as you can to make it good.” • All ages, ticketed guests under 16 ONLY ADMITTED WITH TICKETED GUARDIAN 21+ • All sales are final. Check your tickets carefully, NO REFUNDS FOR ANY REASON • Your name will be on the Will Call list the night of the show at doors time.