Death Valley Girls – “Hold My Hand”

David Fearn

Death Valley Girls – “Hold My Hand”

David Fearn

We haven’t had enough jangly, fuzzy garage rock in our lives lately, but maybe Death Valley Girls will fix that. This fall, the Los Angeles band will follow up their 2018 album Darkness Rains with a new one called Under The Spell Of Joy. When the band announced the album last month, they also shared the gorgeously bleary lead single “The Universe,” a track that burst with jazz and psychedelic influences. Today, they’ve come out with another one.

The new Death Valley Girls track is called “Hold My Hand,” and it’s not a Hootie And The Blowfish cover. Compared to “The Universe,” “Hold My Hand” is a little more earthbound, in a good way. It’s built on a classic organ riff and a hip-shaking guitar line, and there’s some serious big-beat rumble underneath all its reverb. (There are maracas on the song! Or maybe tambourines! More rock songs should have maracas or tambourines.) The song maintains a vibe, but it also has spirit and verve and hooks working for it. It moves.

In a press release, bandleader Bonnie Bloomgarden has this to say:

Relationships are really tricky and can be super messy and complicated! I used to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. I realized it’s cause I thought relationships were an agreement you made with another person. And that meant giving away my power to the other person and letting them navigate our way along our path. Then I realized things either happen to you or for you! Any relationship you have is an opportunity to make an agreement with yourself! It’s a chance to learn to be more compassionate and to grow stronger and more powerfully into the person you want to be and are meant to be! Hopefully, the other person will help along the way and grow with you! If not, peace and next, please.

Check out “Hold My Hand” below.

Under the Spell Of Joy is out 10/2 on Suicide Squeeze. Pre-order it here.

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