Category: Psych Rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Melody Fields Share Rousingly Anthemic “In Love”

Influenced by Spiritualized, Moon Duo, and La Düsseldorf, Gothenburg-based psych outfit Melody Fields have quickly established and cemented a sound that seamlessly meshes elements of psych pop, indie rock and shoegaze with enchanting melodies.

The Swedish psych outfit will be closing out the year with the release of two albums: 1901, which is slated for an October 13, 2023 release and 1991, which is slated for an November 10, 2023. Both will be released through Coop Records in the European Union and Nudie Records here in the States. The band explains that 1901 can be best described as a rock album with psychedelic influences. “It showcases repetitive guitar riffs, distorted soundscapes, and mesmerizing three-part harmony vocals. Throughout these musical landscapes, we were fortunate to collaborate with guest musicians from esteemed bands such as Goat and Holy Wave, who added an extra layer of sonic brilliance to the album,” the members of the band explain.

“On the other hand, 1991 takes a different approach as a concept album that evolved from late-night jam sessions, experimental sounds, and danceable music,” the band continues. “It presents four remixes, including contributions from Goat and Al Lover, which inject new life into the original composition ‘Jesus’ from our previous album. The remixes offer fresh perspectives and invigorating interpretations, breathing new energy into the music and allowing it to evolve further.”

Last month, Melody Fields shared 1901 single “Hallelujah,” a Happy Mondays-meets-Primal Scream-like song that saw the band pairing propulsive bongo drum beats, glistening synths, bouyant Larry Levan-era house piano and thumping bass lines with hazy and dreamily delivered vocals. The result is a trance-inducing and trippy dance floor friendly bop that recalls the Madchester sound — but with a sleek, modern feel. “Drawing inspiration from iconic bands like Primal Scream and Happy Mondays, the track transports you to the glory days of early 90s dance-oriented rock,” the members of Melody Fields explain.

1901‘s latest single “In Love” is a fairly straightforward psych rock anthem built around buzzing power guitars, arena rock bombast and rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses that sounds inspired by Give Out But Don’t Give Up-era Primal Scream, The Jesus and Mary Chain and others, fueled by an infectious rambunctiousness.

“This track features infectious rhythms and catchy melodies that capture the raw power and rebellious spirit of Rock’n’Roll, inviting you to unleash your inner passion and let the music ignite your soul,” the Gothenburg-based outfit explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: GUM Teams Up With Hatchie on Mind-Bending “Argentina”

Over the past decade, Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jay Watson has been restlessly prolific: He’s written and recorded five albums as the frontman of GUM, including 2020’s Out In The World. As the co-leader of acclaimed psych outfit Pond, Watson has been behind nine albums, including last year’s aptly titled 9. And through that recorded output, the Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has treated listeners to some of the most sonically diverse and eclectic explorations of the past decade or so.

Watson’s sixth GUM album Saturnia officially dropped today. The album released through  Spinning Top Music, Watson’s sixth GUM album Saturnia is arguably the richest and most coherent work of his career to date.

Coming off the back of Out In The World, Watson had a loose idea of where he wanted the project to go next. Drum sticks in hand and a rough sonic map in mind, the intervention of the pandemic and the logistics of caring for two small children meant that the songs Watson had stated to write were given a previously unprecedented amount of time to percolate in his head, and the material began to ferment and sprout new tendrils. “Because of Covid and because I had a new kid, for the first time ever I would write songs and think about them months on end,” Watson says. “I’d always been a bit of a lazy arranger, but this time I was working on different sections in my head for months.”

With his mind ticking over and creative impulses sparking off new ideas, Watson’s initial blueprint started to look very different. There were now new routes on this initial road map. “My dream was to make one coherent record that sounded the same all the way through, but it’s just so hard when you like so much different stuff!” he laughs. “I wanted the whole album to sound like Nick Drake at the very beginning, but it just doesn’t work out like that. I’ve got so much equipment and stuff to play with that even if I start with something that sounds like Nick Drake, I’ll starting adding things and playing with it and it will take it away into somewhere else immediately.” 

The anchor of Saturnia‘s material is the bedrock of real-life playing and organic sounds that Watson was aiming for. But as the album evolved and grew, it became the launchpad for something more adventurous and musically nourishing. 

Last month, I wrote about “Music Is Bigger Than Hair.” Built around a simple, shimmering, finger-plucked guitar melody paired with Watson’s dreamily forlorn delivery and a breathtakingly gorgeous string arrangement by Jesse Kotansky, the song for about three-quarters of its 4:18 runtime is a dusty Nick Drake-meets-Pink Floyd-like bit of troubadour folk with a narrator grappling with age and mortality in a realm where youth and youthfulness is valued above all. But the song ends with an unexpectedly, breezy and playful, samba influenced coda. 

“’Music Is Bigger Than Hair’ is a funny title, I think it’s referring to me getting older and feeling my mortality a little bit more, or at least my worth as a musician being tied up in the way I look,” Watson says. “Feeling like it’s affecting my music, as if it has anything to do with it. Musically it’s one of my favorites because of Jesse Kotansky’s beautiful string arrangement.”

To celebrate the album’s release, Watson shared “Argentina,” an expansive Nick Drake-meets-Tame Impala bit of psych rock featuring a guest spot from acclaimed artist Hatchie and some incredibly dexterous guitar work that includes shimmering guitar lines for the song’s verses, buzzing guitar lines for the song’s choruses, and a mind-bending solo.

“This song isn’t really about Argentina, I just wanna say that I adore Argentina and it’s one of my favorite places to go and play,” Watson says of the song. “It’s about letting ego take hold of you and not surrounding yourself with the right people. Features some great vocal parts from Hatchie.”

Directed and animated by Alex Aulson, the accompanying video for “Argentina” features some stunning close-ups of natural phenomena near a rugged coastline.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: GUM Shares Meditative “Music Is Bigger Than Hair”

Over the past decade, Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jay Watson has been restlessly prolific: He’s written and recorded five albums as the frontman of GUM, including 2020’s Out In The World. As the co-leader of acclaimed psych outfit Pond, Watson has been behind nine albums, including last year’s aptly titled 9. And through that recorded output, the Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has treated listeners to some of the most sonically diverse and eclectic explorations of the past decade or so.

Slated for a September 15, 2023 release through Spinning Top Music, Watson’s sixth GUM album Saturnia is reportedly the richest and most coherent work of the Aussie artist’s career to date. Coming off the back of Out In The World, Watson had a loose idea of where he wanted the project to go next.

Drum sticks in hand and a rough sonic map in mind, the intervention of the pandemic and the logistics of caring for two small children meant that the songs Watson had stated to write were given a previously unprecedented amount of time to percolate in his head, and the material began to ferment and sprout new tendrils. “Because of Covid and because I had a new kid, for the first time ever I would write songs and think about them months on end,” Watson says. “I’d always been a bit of a lazy arranger, but this time I was working on different sections in my head for months.”

With his mind ticking over and creative impulses sparking off new ideas, Watson’s initial blueprint started to look very different. There were now new routes on this initial road map. “My dream was to make one coherent record that sounded the same all the way through, but it’s just so hard when you like so much different stuff!” he laughs. “I wanted the whole album to sound like Nick Drake at the very beginning, but it just doesn’t work out like that. I’ve got so much equipment and stuff to play with that even if I start with something that sounds like Nick Drake, I’ll starting adding things and playing with it and it will take it away into somewhere else immediately.” 

The anchor of Saturnia‘s material is the bedrock of real-life playing and organic sounds that Watson was aiming for. But as the album evolved and grew, it became the launchpad for something more adventurous and musically nourishing.

Saturnia’s latest single, “Music Is Bigger Than Hair” is built around a simple, shimmering, finger-plucked guitar melody paired with Watson’s dreamily forlorn delivery and a breathtakingly gorgeous string arrangement by Jesse Kotansky. For about three-quarters of its 4:18 runtime, “Music Is Bigger Than Hair” is a dusty Nick Drake-meets-Pink Floyd-like bit of troubadour folk with a narrator grappling with age and mortality in a realm where youth and youthfulness is valued above all. But the song ends with an unexpectedly, breezy and playful, samba influenced coda.

“’Music Is Bigger Than Hair’ is a funny title, I think it’s referring to me getting older and feeling my mortality a little bit more, or at least my worth as a musician being tied up in the way I look,” Watson says. “Feeling like it’s affecting my music, as if it has anything to do with it. Musically it’s one of my favorites because of Jesse Kotansky’s beautiful string arrangement.”

Shot on grainy and nostalgia-inducing Super 8mm film, the accompanying video for “Music Is Bigger Than Hair” features Watson playing the song in a lush garden, footage of the Australian coast at sunset, Watson and a pal kicking a soccer ball around and more. The video knowingly captures the endless cycles of time and seasons, and the tacitly emphasizes the acknowledgement of age and mortality at the core of the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Montréal-based psych rock trio Population II — Pierre-Luc Gratton (vocals, drums), Tristan Lacombe (guitar, keys) and Sébastien Provençal (bass) — can trace their origin back a long way and are inextricably linked to their teenage memories. After years of jamming to the point of developing a unique sense of telepathy, the trio began recording independently released material that caught the attention of Castle Face Records head and The Oh Sees‘ frontman John Dwyer, who released the band’s full-length debut, 2020’s À la Ô Terre, an album that saw the band displaying their mastery of improvised and sophisticated composition.

The Montréal-based psych outfit then spent the better pat of the next two years touring to support their full-length debut, which included stops at SXSW, Pop Montréal, Toronto, NYC, and Quebec City. 

This past winter, Population II signed with Bonsound‘s label, booking and publishing arms. The taste making Montréal-based label will be releasing the Canadian trio’s highly anticipated Emmanuel Èthier-produced sophomore album Èlectrons libres du québec. Slated for an October 13, 2023 release, Population II’s sophomore effort is reportedly much more straightforward than its predecessor, and sees the trio crafting heavy psych rock infused with feverish punk rhythms, a burst of early punk energy, a hint of jazz philosophy and a love of minor scales that channel the early roots of heavy metal. The album’s material also sees the trio continuing to showcase their deft musicianship and expertise of their instruments with the material effortlessly balancing between challenging compositions and memorable melodies.

Earlier this year, I wrote about the album’s first single, “Beau baptême.” Built around a fairly traditional and recognizable song structure — verse, chorus, verse, bridge, coda — “Beau baptême,” is roomy enough for buzzing power chord-driven riffs and mind-melting grooves paired with Gratton’s ethereal crooning. The song sees the trio deftly balancing jazz-inspired improvisational sensibilities with the tight restraint of a deliberately crafted composition.

The song explores the psychological journey around inspiration and focuses on the very genesis of ideas — namely how ideas are actually born and the opinions they generate. Throughout the song, the band’s Pierre-Luc Gratton sings about how writing can sometimes happen with ease and spontaneity and sometimes requires deep, long reflection. Fittingly, the song is rooted in a lived-in specificity.

Èlectrons libres du québec‘s second and latest single “C.T.Q.S” begins with a punk rock-like urgency with a relentless, driving rhythm and dissonant, 70s jazz fusion/prog rock organ with a slightly menacing, off-kilter vibe before veering into a krautrock-meets-psych ripper about half way in. Featuring tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the band’s Gratton taunts those who are too passive and have surrendered in the face of the world’s current, turbulent state.

“‘C.T.Q.S’. is the manifestation of the tribulations of the past among today’s youth,” the Montréal-based trio explain. “It’s the calm after the storm, the law of suburbia, the boomer’s victory lap. It’s searching the ‘Local business” category on Amazon.”

Population II will be embarking on a handful of dates with The Oh Sees. The tour includes a September 22, 2023 stop at Warsaw. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Tour dates
16/09/2023 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall •
17/09/2023 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom & Tavern •
18/09/2023 – Détroit, MI – El Club •
20/09/2023 – Boston, MA – Royale •
22/09/2023 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw •
21/10/2023 – Saint-Hyacinthe, QC – Le Zaricot ° • Supporting Osees
° Double bill with Yoo Doo Right

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Robert Plant!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Robert Plant’s 75th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Vacant Lots Share Brooding “Damaged Goods”

With the release of 2020’s Interzone through London-based psych label Fuzz Club, the Brooklyn-based psych duo The Vacant Lots — Jared Artaud (vocals, guitar, synths) and Brian McFayden (drums, synths, vocals) — crafted an album that saw the duo seamlessly blending dance music and psych rock while maintaining the long-held minimalist approach that has earned the duo acclaim across the global psych scene.

Clocking in at a breakneck 23 minutes, last year’s eight-song Closure was written during pandemic-related lockdowns, and continues the Brooklyn-based psych duo’s “minimal is maximal” ethos, while being a soundtrack for a shattered, uneasy, fucked up world. “During the pandemic the two of us were totally isolated in our home studios,” The Vacant Lots’ Jared Artaud says. “I don’t think the pandemic directly influenced the songs in an obvious way, but merely amplified existing feelings of alienation and isolation. We found ourselves writing in a more direct and vulnerable way than ever before.”

The Vacant Lots’ fifth album Interiors is slated for an October 13, 2023 release through their longtime label home Fuzz Club. Recorded over many sleepless nights and amphetamine-fueled mornings in the duo’s isolated Brooklyn-based bunker home studio, Interiors reportedly sees the duo synthesizing their past work while pushing forward into the future: They go deeper into their long-lend minimal is maximal aesthetic but with nods to 70s and 80s punk and nightclub music like Joy Division, Depeche Mode, New Order and The Idiot-era Iggy Pop.

Throughout the entire album, ethereal, metallic synths and blistering electronics are paired with disco-on-downers dance beats, gutter rock guitar riffs and icily detached vocals singing concise, lacerating lyrics. “I like writing songs you can dance or zone out to”, Artaud says: “That duality of individual listening and music played in a crowd has always attracted me. A cross between the club and headphones. Music for loners and lovers.”

Interiors‘ latest single “Damaged Goods” pairs glistening synths arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, scorching guitars with Artaud’s icily detached delivery. But just underneath the cool and seemingly insouciant exterior is an aching, bitter heartache and despair.

“’Damaged Goods’ is about integrating conflicting internal feelings. If you’re saying you need an exit strategy and one lifetime is enough, that’s a whole other zone you’re going to. On this album, I wanted to dig deeper than I had done before and really carve out the pain”, Jared Artaud says of the new single: “In Damaged Goods lines from other songs on the record are referenced and contrasted. We did this a lot on Interiors. I like how all the songs can interrelate with one another, and it gives this song and the album another layer of intimacy, depth and closeness.”

Directed by Alexander Schipper and starring Matteen Ismail, the accompanying video for “Damaged Goods” is shot in a glitchy, VHS-like black and white, and follows a brooding Mateen in a ride share through a city at night. The video manages to emphasize the heartache, bitterness and despair at the core of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Frankie and The Witch Fingers Share an Apocalyptic Ripper

Since initially forming in Bloomington, IN over a decade ago, the acclaimed Los Angeles-based psych rock outfit Frankie and the Witch Fingers — currently founding duo Dylan Sizemore (vocals, guitar) and Josh Menashe (lead guitar, synth), along with Death Valley Girls‘ Nikki “Pickle” Smith (bass) and Mike Watt’s Nick Aguilar (drums) — have a long-held reputation for restless experimentation rooted in the multiple permutations of their lineups, and for a high-powered and scuzzy, garage punk meets thrash punk take on psych rock paired with absurdist lyrics, frequently fueled by dreams, hallucinations, paranoia and lust. The result is material that can be simultaneously mischievous, menacing and dreamlike. 

Slated for a September 1, 2023 release through Greenway Records/The Reverberation Appreciation Society, the Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstays’ forthcoming seventh album, Data Doom is built around the cerebral yet visceral songwriting of the outfit’s co-founders, while marking the first written and recorded material featuring Smith and Aguilar.

In crafting what may arguably be their most rhythmically complex work to date, the band drew heavily from each member’s distinct sensibilities: Smith tapped into her extensive background in West African drumming, an art form she first discovered through her music instructor parents. Aguilar leaned into formative influences like longtime Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen.

Self-produced by the proudly DIY-minded band and recorded direct to tape by the band’s Menashe, Data Doom ultimately took shape through countless sessions in their Southeast L.A.-based rehearsal space, with the band allowing themselves unlimited time to explore their gloriously strange impulses. “There was no pressure and no real time constraint for this record, and because of that the creativity flowed in a very free way that probably wouldn’t have happened if we’d been on the clock in a studio,” Frankie and the Witch’s Dylan Sizemore says in press notes. “It showed us that the more we take the time to communicate and share our ideas with each other, the more it feeds our creative energy and helps us to make something we’re all really excited about.”

While showcasing the expansive and eccentric musicality of past efforts like 2020’s Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters . . ., Data Doom reportedly features nine high-wattage songs built with both dizzying intricacy and completely unfettered imagination. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Mild Davis,” an expansive, stream-of-consciousness-driven song that sees the acclaimed JOVM mainstays cycling through a whirlwind of rhythms and textures paired with dexterous guitar work, proggy synths and a series of mind-bending solos. Seemingly drawing from Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo-era DEVO, acid jazz freakouts, garage psych and space rock, while influenced by Miles Davis‘ early 70s electric period, “Mild Davis” may arguably be the wildest, face-melting ripper I’ve come across this year. “We worked on that for two weeks straight, puzzle-piecing together different parts into one very weird and stream-of-consciousness song that’s mostly in a 7/4 time signature,” the JOVM mainstay outfit’s Josh Menashe recalls.

Lyrically, the song sees Sizemore shifting between savagely despairing the state of the world and resolutely dreaming of a brighter future. “I wrote ‘Mild Davis’ in a moment of feeling pessimistic about what technology is doing to our society, especially as AI is creeping to the forefront more and more,” says Sizemore. “But then the bridge comes from a more optimistic perspective, where it’s questioning whether we could reboot the whole system and start all over.”

“Empire,” Data Doom‘s final preview is seven minutes of scorching guitar riffs, thunderous drumming and intense, apocalyptic-laden lyrics. Play loud and open up that pit right now!

Directed by Kevin Fermini and featuring corrupted knight and ship design by Gage Lindsten, creature designs by Carlo Schievano and titles and matte paintings by Jordan Warren, the accompanying video for “Empire” is a trippy and nightmarish intergalactic romp with weird otherworldly creatures that bring Metroid to mind.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Elephant Stone Share Dreamy and Introspective “Lost In A Dream”

This week has been an unexpectedly busy week with a collection of shows and a few job interviews. But the show as always must go on, right? So let’s get to it!

Brossard, Quebec-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rishi Dhir is a grizzled Montréal indie rock and psych rock scene vet , who has played in a number of bands, including The Datsons and The High Dials. He is also an in-demand sitarist and bassist, who has collaborated with Beck, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Dream Syndicate, psych rock supergroup MIEN and countless others. 

Dhir founded the acclaimed psych rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Elephant Stone back in 2009. Along with collaborators and bandmates Miles Duper (drums), Gab Lambert (guitar), Robbie MacArthur (guitar) and Jason Kent (keys, guitar), the Montréal-based band has released six albums, including 2013’s self-titled album and 2020’s acclaimed Hollow. They’ve also released a handful of EPs including last year’s Francophone Le Voyage de M. Lonely dans la Lune. Each of those efforts has them develop and then firmly cement a unique sound that incorporates elements of traditional Indian classic music with Western psych rock with introspective lyrics rooted in Dhir’s own personal experiences.

Dhir’s own journey in music, frequently found him trying to find a place that fit him until he decided that what he made was worth sharing in the space that he had created for himself. “I only write about what I know and think I understand. As long as there’s Rishi, there’s going to be Elephant Stone,” Dhir says in press notes. 

Earlier this year, the JOVM mainstays released Dawn, Day, Dusk, which featured “Godstar,” and “The Imajinary, Nameless Everybody In The World.” Those tracks saw the band continuing their narrative journey with material that deftly balances human complexities with introspective themes while showcasing an evolving sound. Their latest single, “Lost In A Dream,” is the follow-up to Dawn, Day, Dusk and much like its predecessor features a subtle change in their sound. Built around a Tame Impala-like groove, the new single still continues the band’s long-held reputation for dexterous guitar work paired with catchy hooks and introspective lyrics.

“Creating ‘Lost In A Dream’ has been a thrilling journey for us, one where the fascination with dreams and their mysterious ties to reality took center stage,” the band’s Rishi Dhir says. “While there are subtle hints of inspirations like The Nazz’s ‘Open My Eyes‘ and Echo and the Bunnymen‘s ‘Killing Moon,’ this song is really about charting our own musical course. We’ve woven an auditory landscape that we hope allows listeners to dive into their thoughts and dreams. It’s all about losing yourself in the music, in the narrative it spins, and finding a resonance within your own life.”
 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Death Valley Girls Share Ecstatic “I Am a Wave”

For the better part of the past decade, Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstays Death Valley Girls — currently Bonnie Bloomgarden (vocals, guitar, Wurlitzer, organ), Rikki Styxx (drums), Larry Schemel (guitar) and Sammy Westervelt (vocals, guitar) — have used their music as a means of tapping into a communal cosmic energy. 2016’s Glow in The Dark, 2018’s Darkness Rains and 2020’s Under the Spell of Joy saw the band openly challenging the soul-crushing banality of modern society and celebrating “true magical infinite potential” through scorching proto-punk influenced riffage, earworm melodies, trippy lyrics and lysergic auxiliary instrumentation.

Released earlier this year, through their longtime label home Suicide Squeeze Records, Death Valley Girls’ latest album Islands in the Sky sees the band’s primary songwriter Bonnie Bloomgarden turning inward and using the band’s anthemic revelries as a guidebook to spiritual healing — and a roadmap for future incarnations of the self.

Islands in the Sky‘s material can trace its origins back to when Bloomgarden was bedridden with a mysterious illness from November 2021 to March 2022. “When I was sick I had to sleep most of the day,” Bloomgarden recalls. “I kept waking up every few hours with an intense message to take care of the island, feed the island…I have no idea why, but making music for the island kept coming up.”

Before her illness, Bloomgarden’s primary focus was writing songs to help others deal with their own suffering. But something within her shifted, and she began to turn her focus inward. “When I was sick I started to wonder if it would be possible to write a record with messages of love to my future self. This was really the first time that I consciously thought about my own suffering and what future me might need to hear to heal,” says Bloomgarden. “I struggled so much in my life with mental health, abuse, PTSD, and feeling like I didn’t belong anywhere. And I don’t want anyone—including my future self—to suffer ever again. I realized that if we are all part of one cosmic consciousness, as we [Death Valley Girls] believe, then Islands in the Sky could serve not only as a message of love and acceptance to myself, but also from every self to every self, because we are all one!”

The bulk of the album was channeled into being when Bloomgarden and Styxx went out to a cabin in the California woods on New Year’s Day 2022 to hunker down and write. Schemel and the band’s newest member Westverlt joined the band at Station House Studio to further flesh out the material. And while being some of the most ambitious aims for the band to date, the material may arguably be among their most raucous, danceable, and celebrato

The JOVM mainstays have ensured that 2023 has been a busy year. They’ve been touring to support the new album, and they recently released a standalone single, “I Am a Wave,” the first bit of new material since Islands in The Sky‘s release. Building off the sound and approach they developed on Islands in the Sky, “I Am a Wave” sees them adding elements of prog, shoegaze, pop and psych rock to their sonic palette to create something warmly familiar yet very different.

The song sees Bloomgarden’s earnest and soaring vocals pushing up against layers of reverb-soaked guitar jangle, propulsive and cascading drums and a supple bass line. Schemel also contributes a scorching solo before ending with a fervent and ecstatic coda. The song was written to evoke the sensation of a wave that crests and crashes out of the speakers — or your headphones.

“This song is for anyone that has had a hard time making decisions or following their gut!,” Death Valley Girls’ Bonnie Bloomgarden explains.

“I linger in indecision, and get stuck in the muck of options, weighing every single dynamic except ‘how does this make me feel.’ Sometimes it’s from fear of imperfection, but always it’s from self-doubt, not trusting my instinct, or letting my intuition be my guide. 

“I’ve learned a lot from spiritual people lately,” Bloomgarden continues. “Pagans and witches, calling in the elements. I imagine it’s similar to asking Jesus, a saint, an ancestor, to help for guidance. 

For me this song is like a meditation, or a prayer. To become a wave. To not want to turn in, quit, and become small or unseen, but to flow, and grow. Become part of the flow!!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Pearl Earl Makes Evil Fun in “Evil Does It”

Currently splitting her time between Los Angeles and Denton, TX, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is the creative mastermind and frontperson of the rising psych rock project Pearl Earl. Originally started as a bedroom project on Harley’s laptop while she was in college, the project has seen several different iterations, and now consists of a rotating cast of original lineup and touring members including Bailey K. Chapman, Stefanie Lazcano, Chelsey Danielle, Teddy Georgia Waggy and Leeza V.

Once described as “Pink Floyd in the sunlight,” Pearl Earl’s material makes heavy nods to spacey prog and golden era glam rock, but while seeing the band carve their own take. The band has also developed a reputation for a live show that’s captivating and euphoric with an ominous, impish grin. And adding to a growing profile, they have shared bills with the likes of JOVM mainstays Death Valley Girls, The Black Angels and Frankie and The Witch Fingers, Oh Sees, Post Animal, Acid Dad and Black Lips. They’ve also made the run of the national festival circuit with sets at LEVITATION and SXSW among others.

Recorded at Tomas Dolas at Studio 22, and released last month through Green Witch Recordings, Pearl Earl’s sophomore It’s Dread thematically explores existential crisis in an apocalyptic, doomed world plagued by a capitalistic, patriarchal society captivated and ruled by celebrity worship and blind consumerism. And yet, despite the fact that most of the album’s material was written during the COVID-19 pandemic, “there is an underlying glimmer of help and resolution throughout its subversive demeanor,” Pearl Earl’s Ariel Hartley says.

It’s Dread‘s first single “Evil Does It” is built around woozy synths, a reverb-soaked, drunken rhythmic swing, buzzing guitars paired with Hartley’s punchy delivery and an infectious hook. The song manages to be menacing and uneasy yet somehow mischievous — and sort of campy. Evil can be so delightful, y’all!

Directed by Sara Mosier, the accompanying video for “It’s Dread” is set in a drug-addled, consumerism hellscape much like our own — and features mind-bending Bob Fosse-like sequences in a suburban home with several Versailles-like rooms, a Broadway-like set and ends with its protagonists in the endless conflagration of hell. And the Grim Reaper makes an appearance.