For Columbia, South Carolina indie rockers Those Lavender Whales, looming destruction became the catalyst for creation. With the band’s second full-length release dropping next month, we’ve learned that thematically, although not obviously lyrically, My Bones Are Singing was inspired by singer Aaron Graves’ serious tumor diagnosis in 2014. With such a life-changing event came an altered mindset, one that’s both hopeful and realistic.

It’s reflected on “Lose My Mind,” one of the album’s advance singles. Lyrically confessional (I’m not gonna lie…/ I’m so stubborn I can see myself locking into my ways until I die”) with a touch of sanguine synths, “Lose My Mind” is mellowed out beach music meets snarling strings. While the album’s underlying topics are more serious and sincere, the music helps deliver these messages in a cheery, catchy bundle that makes for easily accessible and relatable jams.

And when he wasn’t busy this month releasing new music with Toro Y Moi and the Mattson 2, Chaz Bundick was lending a hand recording and producing Those Lavender Whales’ album. Call it what you will — they opt for “friendship folk” and “puppy punk,” among others — this band has fun in genre blending and experimentation. For some songs psych-pop elements burst to the forefront; in others like “Lose My Mind,” their wailing lo-fi guitars bring a simple edge in the same vein as Yuck.

Band leader Graves puts the song into perspective for us:

This song represents that recurring feeling of complete overwhelming. That anything else piled up on you will be the thing that breaks you. The inability to move or the feeling of being stuck that is a result of the weight of a pile of deadlines, responsibilities and anything that takes away from what you would rather be doing. I also used this song to remind myself that the best way out of these places is to find your friends, family and community and not take everything on alone. Growing up skateboarding, we would always give a trick a “last try”, and if we didn’t land it, there would always be another “last try” until we rolled away.

Listen below.

Tour dates:

03/10 Greenville, SC @ House Show
03/11 Athens, GA @ Go Bar
03/24 Savannah, GA @ El-Rocko Lounge
03/25 Jacksonville, FL @ Rain Dogs
04/07 Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
04/08 Charleston, SC @ Royal American
04/09 Raleigh, NC @ Slims
04/10 Richmond, VA @ The Camel
04/11 Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor
04/13 Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia

My Bones Are Singing is out 4/7 via Fork & Spoon, and you can pre-order it here.