Haim released their sophomore album, Something To Tell You, back in 2017. This year, they’ve been pretty visible: covering Paula Cole at Pitchfork Music Festival, singing on a Gesaffelstein track, assisting Vampire Weekend with their Father Of The Bride release festivities. (Danielle Haim is also all over the VW album).

In terms of their own music, last month the trio debuted a new song called “Summer Girl” at a show in LA. And today, we hear the official single. Danielle takes the lead on the slightly jazzy, saxophone-assisted track.

She expanded on the making of “Summer Girl” yesterday in a Twitter thread. “So excited to start releasing new music as we’re working on it – kinda like we did before our first album,” the first tweet reads. “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!)”

Haim were touring on and off while Danielle’s partner, producer Ariel Rechtshaid, was sick. “I wanted to be this light that shined on him when he was feeling very dark,” she writes. “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.”

A couple months ago, Danielle remembered the demo and brought it to Rostam Batmanglij. She tweets, “He wrote the sax part within the first couple minutes of working on it and it all clicked.” Noticing one of the vocal parts sounded like Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side,” the group decided to lean into the resemblance. Danielle writes, “[Rostam] 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.”

The band has recruited superstar auteur and frequent Haim collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson to direct the “Summer Girl” video. Watch below.

Here’s Danielle’s full Twitter thread explaining the song:

summer girl is out tomo. (thread) pic.twitter.com/nasRbltO4O

— HAIM (@HAIMtheband) July 30, 2019

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!)

— HAIM (@HAIMtheband) July 30, 2019

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.

— HAIM (@HAIMtheband) July 30, 2019

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.

— HAIM (@HAIMtheband) July 30, 2019

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 😊 d

— HAIM (@HAIMtheband) July 30, 2019