HAIM debuted a new song called “Summer Girl” during a concert in Los Angeles earlier this month. Today, the sisterly trio is officially releasing a studio version of the track, as well as a video by famed filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.
“Summer Girl” — not to be confused with the #HotGirlSummer meme or LFO’s pop classic — is the band’s first new single in two years. It was partially inspired by the late Lou Reed, and ex-Vampire Weekender Rostam Batmanglij contributed on saxophone.
(Read: The Top 25 Albums of 2019… So Far)
In a lengthy Instagram post about the track, Danielle Haim explained that it was written around the time her partner, producer Ariel Rechtshaid, was diagnosed with cancer,
“we finished this song a couple weeks ago and thought, why don’t we shoot something real quick and release it ! (more on the video tomorrow) this song started out as a garage band demo in my phone with just a bass line, drums, some gibberish and a doot doot doot little melody. I wrote it around the time my partner was diagnosed with cancer a couple years ago while we were making STTY. (he’s in the clear now!) we were touring on and off at this time and every time we were on the phone with each other or when I would come home in between shows, I wanted to be this light that shined on him when he was feeling very dark. I wanted to be his hope when he was feeling hopeless. so I kept singing these lines – I’m your sunny girl/ I’m your fuzzy girl/ I’m your summer girl – over the bass line. summer girl stuck. fast forward to a couple months ago -I remembered this demo and pulled it up from my phone. I brought it to my friend rostam to see if he wanted to work on it. he wrote the sax part within the first couple minutes of working on it and it all clicked. we were kinda joking about how the doot doot doot part reminded us of walk on the wild side and then he put this stand up bass part on top of the electric bass part and It sounded amazing! the palette was there- v inspired by Lou. and we kept it that way. I brought it back to my partner Ariel- where the inspo first started – and he put some finishing touches on it and here we are ! hope u guys vibe with it – ur summer girl in italy”
Check it out below via its official video. Director Anderson, who just worked with Thom Yorke, previously helmed HAIM’s video for “Little of Your Love” and their short film Valentine.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0jZTFDlvB3/
“Summer Girl” follows HAIM’s last album, Something to Tell You, from 2017. Over the last two years, the three-piece has contributed to new works by The Lonely Island, Gesaffelstein, and even Howard Stern. Danielle featured extensively on Vampire Weekend’s recently released Father of the Bride, one of our favorite records of 2019.
