Kevin Bronson on January 15th, 2021

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L.A. duo Deap Vally have officially outgrown their blues-rock boots.

Or maybe Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards are just using them to kick out some different jams. Either way, their new single “Look Away” is outside the box compared to the Deap Vally full-lengths, 2013’s “Sistrionix” and 2016’s “Femejism.” The new single is a collaboration with Jennylee (Jenny Lee Lindberg of Warpaint) and the first taste of Deap Vally’s collaboration-rich new EP, “Digital Dream,” out Feb. 26.

Anchored by an insistent rhythm section, “Look Away” pulls the listener through with twining vocals and muted but precise guitar. It has an almost incantational quality.

Says Edwards: “‘Look Away’ took shape in a very open and spontaneous style, born out of a real-time jam with Lindsey, Jennylee and me. The lyrics began as improvised syllables, slowly taking shape into words. The song is more of a feeling of a moment, a hazy memory.”

Jennylee adds: “It’s not always easy to share space, especially a vulnerable creative one, and it was pleasantly surprising how comfortable and at home I felt in the studio with them.”

The four songs on the EP, Edwards says, “were composed in a purely democratic way, allowing all artists in the room to contribute, shape and participate in their creation. Writing these songs was about process over result, encouraging everyone to enter into potentially uncomfortable places (i.e., jamming and letting go of preconceived notions of approach and genre) while feeling safe and unjudged.”

The other three tracks on the EP feature, respectively, SoKo and Zach Dawes of Mini Mansions (on “Digital Dream); Peaches and KT Tunstall (on “High Horse”) and Jamie Hince of the Kills (on “Shock Easy”).

||| Stream: “Look Away”

||| Previously: “The Pusher” (with Flaming Lips), “Hope Hell High” (with Flaming Lips), “Get Gone,” “Smile More,” “Royal Jelly”