On their last album, 2012’s beautiful Nootropics, the Baltimore band Lower Dens explored some new middle ground between motorik krautrock pulse and headspun dream-pop drift. This spring, the band will follow that one up with Escape From Evil, their third album. And “To Die In L.A.,” the first single from the LP, sure seems to indicate that they’re taking another leap into the unknown. “To Die In L.A.” is, more or less, a synth-rock song, and there’s plenty of New Order in its DNA. But the band still has its own particular kind of dreamy drift, especially thanks to frontwoman Jana Hunter’s dark authority. Hunter produced the album, while indie rock producer-to-the-stars Chris Coady mixed it. Meanwhile, studio-pop auteur Ariel Rechtshaid contributed “production elements,” as did Lower Dens band member Walker Teret. Below, listen to “To Die In L.A.”

Escape From Evil is out 3/31 on Ribbon Music.