Welcome to a late summer edition of the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast. On this episode, we’ve got two talks taped at AD HQ in Los Angeles. Up first, Lower Dens’ Jana Hunter. On September 6th, Lower Dens releases its fourth LP The Competition. The conversation reflected on Hunter’s solo beginnings, the formation of Lower Dens and the project’s subsequent sonic evolution over the past ten years. Also discussed were the intervening years between 2015’s Escape From Evil, Hunter’s experience with gender dysphoria, and coming out the other side. And on side B: Rain Phoenix, musician, actress, and host of the LaunchLeft podcast, which returns for its second season soon. Rain founded Aleka’s Attic in the late ‘80s with her late brother River Phoenix, and has recorded as paper cranes and with the “galactic country” band Venus and the Moon. On October 31st—the same day River passed away in 1993—she releases her debut solo album, River.