Lana Del Rey’s “West Coast”: Listen

Lana Del Rey‘s “West Coast” premiered this morning (April 14) with a black-and-white video loop. The first taste of Ultraviolence comes after the singer performed it live for the first time last night at Coachella. As with her prior material, she’s singing about love and vices and having the music in you, and as with much of her other work, the new song is atmospheric — but in a different way.

For much of the track, there’s nothing elegant or glamorous about it; instead, it’s brooding and spare. The verses are smoky, with mumbled vocals, before a tempo change hits for a swaying, breathy chorus accompanied by a Spaghetti Western guitar riff. It’s in the refrain where Lana’s voice does the heavy lifting as she sings “Oh baby, I’m in love” over a cloud of her own ghostly chants, and where an orchestral arrangement might’ve been used to add a sense of grandeur before, here we get a completely unexpected, squealing Moog line to close things out.

“West Coast” was written by Lana and Rick Nowels, and produced by Dan Auerbach (who presumably handled guitar duties). It’s out now digitally via Interscope. Hear it below.

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