Daiana Feuer on July 17th, 2017

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Topanga-dwelling duo Jennifer Pearl and Chris Badger consider the nature of the afterlife on their new VUM single, “Heaven Underground,” which they’re giving away as a free download. Across its 6-minute span, the even temper of the song traverses several dream-shaking shifts, with the best, spine-tingling moment occurring from 2:05 to 2:16, a gently jarring cascade of collapsing instrumentation. Ever the “Twin Peaks” fans — their label is called Secret Lodge Recordings, after all, and remember 2013’s “Laura Palmer” — the band compares this kind of musical interruption to last week’s episode of “Twin Peaks.” Pearl explains, “Where Lynch takes a Kubrick-esque diversion into star fields … ‘Heaven Underground’ also punctuates its barren landscapes and melancholia with unexpected sonic supernovae.”

Lyrically, Pearl says the song is a letter to friends, family and strangers who have passed on during this rather tumultuous year. She says, “I set out to create a sonically barren landscape with unusually intimate vocals. I felt that this could most closely relate this internal (external?) conversation I have been having with lost loved ones. Also, I imagined that if there is an energy that persists beyond cell death, that immediately postmortem we may consider both really big questions like ‘Why didn’t I show more love?’ and more ridiculous ones like ‘I was wearing flip flops when I died; are these seriously the shoes I will be wearing for eternity?'”

||| Stream: “Heaven Underground”