Los Angeles dream-pop duo All Things Blue have shared another new single with the release of “Song to Myself,” catch them at The Troubadour in Los Angeles on Thursday, Nov. 3 in support of Kid Bloom. It’s the fourth single they’ve released this year as they continue to build off the aural lavishments of their debut record Get Bit. Comprised of singer/songwriter India Coombs and soundscape decorator Jon Joseph, the enigmatic pop maelstroms they create are hard to escape.
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But in “Song to Myself” the duo embraces a punchy, garage-grimy rock catharsis as opposed to their typically buoyant pop effervescence. That noisy release coupled with Coombs’ frantic cries echoes a particularly difficult period in the singer’s life, as it was penned in the wake of her mother’s passing. The goal of the song is twofold: a cataloging of the ways in which Coombs (and people in general) can try to rush past grief as a means of escaping and a reminder that there’s a right way to process such immense loss. As such, the song is written by Coombs to herself as a means to try and fill the hole left in the absence of her mom.
Beating back the despair every morning and burning the candle at both ends at work, the song paints a portrait of delirium tangled up with such intense loneliness. “Where did all the years go / Where did all my friends go,” Coombs laments. “These answers I don’t know.” And even as she lucidly tries to understand that life is (obviously) not all sunshine — that knowledge hardly ever makes it easier. Yet still, against those clamorous riffs and her own earnest wails, there’s no room to give in: “When I’d rather never wake / I think Of better ways to spend my day … And I’m just singing this song to myself to get by.”
“Life felt like a blur, it felt like it was against me and I didn’t have my mom to turn to anymore so I wrote this song to myself as a kind of journal entry/ reassurance that I had my own back if that makes sense,” Coombs explained. “I was telling myself how I was feeling as I hadn’t taken a second to really process the fact that I was sad and felt cheated and that even though I was constantly surrounded by so many people I felt really lonely. Now that I’ve quit that grueling job and realized I really only want to spend time with my close friends and family, be outside as much as possible and make as much art as possible, life has become a lot lighter. Still filled with struggle and pain as it always will be but the beauty and loveliness of life is definitely more overpowering than all that bad shit.”
See All Things Blue when they open for Kid Bloom at The Troubadour in Los Angeles on November 3.
Visit All Things Blue on their Bandcamp, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Words by Steven Ward
Listen to “Song to Myself” the new single from All Things Blue below!
