Lowertown, the duo of Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg, have released “Big Thumb” from their new album, Ugly Duckling Union. The track draws on Osby’s interest in collecting news clippings for lyric inspiration, a similar technique used in ’90s industrial music.
“Olive collected many different clippings and writings for us and spread them out on the ground so that when we would begin to play together, Olive on harmonica and me on 12-string guitar, we could sing the words that inspired us most,” Weinberg says. “What stuck was an almost mantra-like repetition of the words ‘Holding out the big thumb,’ which became the song’s conceptual core. The song became a reflection on the feeling of directionlessness in our generation, and how the paths of life that were carved out for previous generations are now void. We are left to drift along aimlessly or hopefully carve out some brand-new path.”
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The video, directed by I Saw The TV Glow actor Jack Haven, shows Weinberg as a struggling hitchhiker who has a run-in with a witchy Osby. To mark the track’s release, Lowertown will throw a free show and screening of the video at a secret location in New York.
Watch the video for “Big Thumb” below.
Lowertown 2026 tour dates
04/28 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Loft
04/29 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
05/01 – Burlington, VT @ Radio Bean
05/02 – Montreal, QC @ Ministere
05/04 – Ottawa, ON @ 27 Club
05/05 – Toronto, ON @ Hard Luck Room
05/07 – Cleveland, OH @ Mahall’s
05/08 – Indianapolis, IN @ HiFi
05/09 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
05/10 – Whitefish Bay, WI @ The Argo
05/12 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
05/13 – Des Moines, IA @ xBK
05/14 – Lawrence, KS @ The White Schoolhouse
05/16 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
05/18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
05/19 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club
05/22 – Seattle, WA @ Baba Yaga
05/23 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
05/26 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
05/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Cid
05/29 – Orange County, CA @ Constellation Room
05/30 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
05/31 – San Diego, CA @ Quartyard
06/08 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
06/11 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
06/12 – Austin, TX @ 29th St Ballroom
06/13 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
06/15 – Nashville, TN @ The End
06/17 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (HELL)
06/19 – Jacksonville, FL @ Hard Love
06/20 – Orlando, FL @ Conduit
06/22 – Miami, FL @ Lincoln’s Beard
06/23 – Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
06/25 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
06/26 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
06/27 – New York City, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
