On “Green Light,” L.A. Trio Vow Kisses The Past Goodbye

After the release of two EPs, L.A.-based synth-pop threesome Vow are set to release their debut album, Kind Eyes, out May 27 on Native Sound. Today we're premiering "Green Light," a lush, heartbreaking track about a bittersweet end to a relationship. Won't have to tell you to leave/ I know you'll go/ Our time is up now and forevermore/ Life takes you where you need to go, vocalist Julia Blake croons with surprising hopefulness.

"The album centers around loss and heartbreak, and aesthetically I’d been struggling to find a dark central image that avoided clichés," Vow's Nick Steinhardt wrote to The FADER in an email. "Andrew’s wife Valerie ended up taking the cover photo that I fell in love with. To me it speaks almost like trophies or remnants of ex-loves. Maybe it’s about the superficiality of ‘only showing part of yourself’ like we sometimes do. Or about ’the pieces of you’ that the end of any relationship leaves behind.

"Andrew and I have been in a 'musical relationship' since age 11," Steinhardt continued. "For this record, they asked me to officially join the group and the process became much more collaborative. With 24-hour access to a studio and Andrew behind the desk it’s easy to experiment and layer to our heart’s content. It felt like we were moving away from synths and instead favoring real instruments that we’d end up making sound otherworldly anyways. After Julia wrote lyrics and laid down vocals we would all sit together, peeling back the pieces carefully to best emphasize her melodies and finalize the song structures. Having mostly played in punk and hardcore bands, this project was our first chance to really work with a melodic vocalist and we wanted to embrace the potential for vocal production and harmonies."

Listen to "Green Light" below, and preorder Kind Eyes here.