The Competition, Lower Dens' fourth album, is a pop album with a concept that is both emotionally and politically urgent. Frustrating struggles with mental health and a still ongoing gender change from woman to man have determined the last two years in the life of the band's creative head and have, of course, had a big impact on the current album. The 11 songs on The Competition written, recorded, produced and staged by Jana Hunter over the last two years range from the personal to the political, but express a revelation overall: You need radical and unconditional compassion for yourself in order to imagine anew what society could be.