Death Valley Girls albums

2023

Islands in the sky - 86%

              For their breakthrough Record, Death Valley Girls have really tapped into their own kind of space in 2023. The vocals by lead singer Bonnie Bloomgarden are on the border of beautiful and shrill, like US Girls Med Remy grooves and also channels an old psychedelic warrior like Liz Frazier or Lida Husik. The band can play with this majestic sound with the repetitive ending of "California Mountain Shake", the soulful girl-group shrieking in "Sunday", or the raga induced "Journey to Dog Star" and "Say It Too" that howls at the moon in a desperate effort.

      While those tunes show off the fun side of the band, they really excel at old fashioned single driven rock music that is haunting but catchy: the graveyard bounce of "Magic Powers", the tropical asteroid existing on "Islands in the Sky", and above all the driving, Sonic youth inspired "Watch the Sky" which is easily one of the best songs of the year. This balance of drifty and catchy is nearly perfected on this album, and rather than evolve in anyway, a band like DVG just needs to keep cranking out more and more of the same.

Best Songs: Watch the Sky, Journey to Dog Star, Islands in the Sky, Magic