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Jul 31, 2019 By Christopher Roberts HAIM

Los Angeles sister trio HAIM have shared a brand new song, “Summer Girl,” via a video directed by previous collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood). Rostam Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid co-produced the song, which is out now via Columbia. The video features the band removing different layers of clothing while walking down various Los Angeles streets, often accompanied by a saxophonist. It was also shot at such iconic LA locations as the New Beverly Cinema (now owned by Quentin Tarantino) and Canter’s Deli. Watch the video below.

Danielle Haim, whose partner is aforementioned producer Ariel Rechtshaid, had this to say about “Summer Girl” in a press release: “I started the song when I found out my partner had cancer. I was on tour and felt like I was trying to send positive energy his way almost telepathically. Whenever I would come home in between shows I wanted to be his sunshine - his summer when he was feeling dark. His hope when he was feeling hopeless.”

Danielle elaborated in a series of tweets that we’ve combined: “So excited to start releasing new music as we’re working on it - kinda like we did before our first album. We finished this song a couple weeks ago and thought, why don’t we shoot something real quick and release it!... 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!) 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. 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. 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 [Lou Reed’s] ‘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 - very 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!”

HAIM’s last album, Something to Tell You, was released in 2017 via Columbia. Since then they have collaborated with Twin Shadow and Vampire Weekend, appeared on Jenny Lewis’ telethon, and are featured on Charli XCX’s upcoming album, Charli.

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