Opening with the explosive title track, this latest from the Death Valley Girls parachutes the listener straight into a world of chaos and confusion. The song is a spinning maelstrom of sound, a hurricane of noise breaking through with a fanfare of brass atop twisted guitar slices, spitting out kneading saxophone phrases, echoing rhythmic pulses, cascading washes of female voices chanting descending pop hooks and a rock and roll band at the centre of the storm desperately holding on to its core. As overtures for the album that follows go, this is a pretty damn evocative statement; the sound is that of a world becoming overwhelmed by the challenges it faces, battered from within and attacked from the outside too, all the while that human spirit is clinging on for dear life. And this may be exactly where the band were intending to come from too, for the circumstances surrounding this records creation were indelibly tainted by tragedies both personal and of a kind being felt today the world over. Firstly, this album features the last recorded contributions on keyboard by Gregg Foreman, who devastatingly passed away not long after completion. On top of that, the lead up to the work saw singer Bonnie Bloomgarden lose her home to a Los Angeles wildfire followed shortly by the death of her dog. Understandably, this prompted a period of feeling lost and cut adrift as she tried to come to terms with a new situation, one where everything thought to be permanent previously was just gone in a flash.
It might be over simplistic to say that great art comes from the hardest of times but listening to the music, it is hard not to believe that creating this album was not at least partially part of the healing process. Finding transcendence amid the chaos could have understandably felt like too much of an ambition at the outset, but they might just have arrived there through the power and conviction in their musical endeavour. Just listen to the lollipop shoppe garage pop hooks of ‘Basic Witch’ and delight in the sound of a band tasting joy in exuberance. ‘Plant Magic’ taps into the life force of another stripe, namely the communal energy that naturally rises out of a children’s chorus but wow, it is oh so effective. Maybe that is why the same tool is re-deployed in other songs such as the overpoweringly defiant ‘Sing For Yourself.’ All these buttons that are pushed speak to an emotional thread right across these nine songs, one that finds comfort and delight in the simple act of human connection and sharing. Understandably, Bloomgarden was initially struggling to write following the traumas she had experienced, which might explain the presence of a cover. Not that their version of Link Wray’s underappreciated ‘Fire And Brimstone’ needs any further justification beyond the definitive funking up they apply to it; I dare you not to shake it on down when you hear this one.
Above all though, it remains the pure thrills of garage band pop perfection that ring the loudest. In that corner, ‘I Love You’ is one of many that flattens all before it on first exposure. Everything is tied together with the final track, in which ‘How Losing Everything In The Fire Taught Me To Love Myself’ addresses that exact moment of acceptance. Bonnie remembers that “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. 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.” As the track builds to a climax around the almost relieved vocal chant of “I’m free,” with the music tumbling back in on itself effectively returning us full circle back to our starting point, it truly feels like a fitting end to the inner journey ‘Welcome To Earth’ has guided us on. The world really is raining down anxieties and traumas on everyone but, we are still here, some of us are still alive, we still have each other so why not make our presence felt with the glorious, life affirming sound of our souls. The Death Valley Girls are pointing the way.
Danny Neill
Get yourself a copy of ‘Welcome To Earth’ via this link: https://deathvalleygirls.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-to-earth
