Death Valley Girls have built a reputation on the power of community, from their earliest leather studded girl-gang stylings to benevolent psychedelic cult leaders on their more recent releases, espousing the unyielding strength that comes from joining together with a crew of amiable individuals has consistently been at the core of the band’s ethos. Islands In The Sky charts a slightly different course, an album-length rumination on letting go of the past and a celestial celebration of the self, both as a single entity and as an integral part of a collective, inclusive whole. These moments of intensely introspective poetry are framed within the concept that maybe everything that happens or has happened or will happen is just a façade, a shimmering holographic fantasia swirling around a central character. But, like a lucid dream, this illusion can be controlled, mastered and reshaped to one’s own will. By wresting control away from the man behind the curtain, one can create their own Oz, populated with people and experiences that help further the plot of one’s own story to manifest a happy ending of one’s own creation. Dreams and reality trotting arm in arm among the poppies, soundtracked by music for a simulated world.
Islands In The Sky is Death Valley Girls’ most ethereal album to date, tapping into swirling psychedelia at times bordering on the ambient to craft an effervescent sonic environment that provides a much needed buoyancy as the band addresses heavy themes head-on. As dark as the album gets, Islands In The Sky never loses sight of the light of hope glittering at the edge of the long night, deftly avoiding the tendency to wallow in the mire of despondency on the journey towards a healthy and happy future.
Opening with “California Mountain Shake,” an elemental epic that unfurls like the unparalleled beauty of a San Jacinto sunrise finds Death Valley Girls reveling in the majesty of the natural world like never before. Waves of sound are rendered nearly visible as rays of light break over a distant ridgeline, filtering through treetops to awaken the underbrush with the illuminating warmth of a new day, transmuting the intangible into reality, a sensation that washes over one’s entire being like a baptism to erase the uncertainties of the night with a newfound clarity. “I’m still in love with you” echoes through the soundscape, a confession directed inward as one begins to rekindle a long dormant romance, the cold of winter giving way to the warmth of a springtime bloom of renewed self-love.
From here the album delves into the darkest recess of the psyche, juxtaposing the tumbling freefall of an umbral Alice down the rabbit hole towards a Wonderland draped in the impenetrable fog of depression on “Sunday” with the bouncy empowerment anthem “Magic Powers” and everywhere else in between. These wide-ranging explorations into the corners of one’s mind blast away the cobwebs accumulated during long periods of isolation, redirecting negative energy into thoughtful mediations on self-worth and agnostic spirituality that open the door to reconnecting with the disparate elements of oneself and slowly venturing out once again into a world of possibilities. Death Valley Girls’ trademark girl gang vocals take on a new potency as a heavenly chorus shaking the foundations of Islands In The Sky’s new-age sky church, augmented by hypnotizing rhythms, biblical feats of guitar heroics and fretwork wizardry, and an undercurrent of celestial sax that unglues the album from the constraints of time and space.
“What Are The Odds” was released as the first official single from Islands In The Sky, an energetic track that reconceptualizes the idea of simulation theory into what serves as essentially the thesis for the entire album. Death Valley Girls pierce the veil of perception by flipping the plasticity Madonna’s “Material Girl” on its head by abandoning the physical trappings of the real world in favor of a multiversal existence where divergent personas coalesce at a pool party beyond the bounds of reality. Migrating the concepts isolated elements coming together to form a greater, more vibrant whole speaks to the band’s long-time commitment to community but also draws parallels to aligning one’s own internal energies into a focused and complete rendition of a life lived fully and completely.
Initiating a multi-part mini suite in the middle of the album, Death Valley Girls tap into the astronomical powers that have guided humanity for untold ages. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, is the principle point in the Canis Major constellation and as such has earned the colloquial name The Dog Star. Long a subject of fascination for humankind, Sirius is regarded throughout the ages as a nexus of spiritual significance. Death Valley Girls, too, turn their eyes to the heavens in search of greater meaning on “Journey To Dog Star,” a hypnotizing composition that weaves Middle Eastern motifs with modern psychedelia as a science-fiction Bedouin caravan traverses the desert of the real in pursuit of the mystery of truth that lies within us all.
Dovetailing neatly into the subsequent track, “Say It Too” is realized as a magical destination reached after the long journey across the lightyears to the Dog Star. “You’ll find someone who loves you” reassures the doubtful and the weary, followed up with a forlorn query “will I die before you say it, too?” The brevity of human existence magnifies the sentiment, a tale of unrequited emotions that moves with soft-focus saudade reminding that our time is short and the power of love is the greatest insulation against the frigid nights of an eternity spent alone.
“Watch The Sky” wraps up the movement as an anthem for patience, carefully observing the expanse in anticipation of an arrival that will change the course of one’s existence. Like an image drawn slowly into focus, the key to recognizing the source of one’s fascination is to first carefully align the needs of the self, directing radiant beams of self-love into an interstellar beacon for like-minded entities to gravitate towards in orbit of a shared desire for connection. Watch the sky because someone, somewhere, is radiating on the same frequency and gazing upwards back at you.
Islands In The Sky moves into its final sequence on the choral magnitude and chiming new wave guitar riff of “All That Is Not Of Me,” a cathartic emotional unburdening that takes all that came before and reaffirms the guiding principles of self-actualization with the mantra “you’re in charge of your perception, of your life, you can choose what you keep and what you leave behind,” drawing perspective from past experiences to empower a new freedom of existence. The kaleidoscopic psychedelia of “It’s All Really Kind Of Amazing,” brings it all home with the brilliant recognition that, even when life seems at its most challenging, our world, our universe, our existence is a journey that is indeed nothing short of incredible, especially when shared cadre of harmonious companions.
Death Valley Girls have not abandoned their belief in the strength of the whole, but with a renewed focus on reinforcing the resiliency of the self they reveal the secret to unbreachable solidarity. Before one can truly love others one must love themselves, cultivating a garden of self-worth to align an archipelago of lush and vibrant individual islands into a glittering constellation illuminating the heavens, islands in the sky guiding the wayward towards their own personal fulfilment and illuminating even the darkest of nights. Although the world may be simulated, the beating hearts of humankind are unquestionably real.
Islands In The Sky is available now via Suicide Squeeze. Stream the album on Spotify and follow Death Valley Girls on Instagram.
Death Valley Girls Tour Dates
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03/02 Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny
03/03 Manchester, UK @ Projekts Skatepark
03/04 Lille, FR @ L’Aeronef
03/07 Nimes, FR @ Paloma
03/09 Macon, FR @ Le Matilda
03/10 Bordeaux, FR @ Bordeaux Rock (festival)
03/11 St. Malo, FR @ La Route du Rock Hiver (festival)
03/14 Bisbee, AZ @ The Quarry
03/16 Austin, TX @ SXSW
03/17 Austin, TX @ SXSW
03/18 Oklahoma City, OK @ Beer City (FREE SHOW)
03/20 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake
03/21 Salt Lake City, UT @ Quarters
03/23 Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Festival
03/24 Reno, NV @ The Loving Cup
03/25 Oakland, CA @ Eli’s Mile High Club
03/31 San Diego, CA @ Whistle Stop
04/01 Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriets
