Sometimes a song title sets up all we need to know, and that’s the case in Death Valley Girls’ rousing new psychedelic garage-rock single “How Losing Everything in the Fire Taught Me to Love Myself.” The latest from the cosmic Southern California collective sets up Welcome to Earth, out Friday (October 9) on Suicide Squeeze Records, which emerged after the band’s personal experience surviving a Los Angeles wildfire, and confronts terror, trauma, and forward motion through a hypnotic and hazy sonic seance. “I spent my whole life trying to change myself, trying so hard to be ‘normal’ and imagining that everyone else was entitled to a level of worthiness I hadn’t yet earned,” says Bonnie Bloomgarden. “The fire forced me to stop focusing on who I needed to become and start learning how to feel safe with who I already was. After a lot of therapy, which I was very, very lucky to have access to, I realized I wasn’t just recovering from trauma — I was becoming comfortable with myself. This song is about losing everything, being terrified, and finally discovering that even when I have nothing, I have all I need.” Fan the flame inward below.
Photo Credit: Patrick Wymore