“We have always been mesmerized by the cosmos,” says Abby Travis. “Humankind has always been looking to the stars and wondering, ‘What are those things? What are the heavens?”

Inspired by her own enduring fascination with outer space, and motivated by NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, the musical chameleon and legendary touring bassist (The Go-Go’s, Cher, EODM, The Bangles, Beck, Elastica, KMFDM) is releasing her new 7-inch “Europa” b/w “Asteroid Transformation” on October 10, 2024 to coincide with the Europa Clipper launch. 

For Travis, whose discography also includes four solo albums and several releases with her rock duo Sumo Princess, the single is her first new record since Sumo Princess’ 2019 EP When an Electric Storm.

“Europa,” a slinky, sexy, darkly atmospheric slice of interplanetary pop, was produced by Alain Johannes (QOTSA, eleven, Them Crooked Vultures) and recorded at Rancho de La Luna and Travis’ own Hemlock House, and mixed by Chris Bittner at Applehead. Travis, who penned the song’s music and lyrics, also sings, plays bass, keys and stylophone on the track, while Alfredo Ortiz (Los Lobos, The Beastie Boys, Gogol Bordello) plays drums and Johannes plays guitar.

“This romantic notion of habitable worlds, particularly with the fragile state of our own planet was compelling to me,” says Travis of the song. “I had the idea of two lovers — one on Earth, and one on Europa — separated by almost 400 million miles, who couldn’t see each other in real time, but could only see one another’s past.”

“Asteroid Transformation,” the single’s flipside, is a pulsating interstellar odyssey capped by Travis’ robotically soulful refrain of “Radiation… Radiation…” 

Conceived in collaboration with the electronic space-psych band Anubian Lights, the backing track was written by Tommy Greñas (Travis’ husband) and Len Del Rio, while Travis wrote and added vocals, bass and some keyboards to the proceedings. Del Rio and Travis mixed the track together.

“I think these two tracks are cousins, even though they are stylistically different,” Travis reflects. “Thematically they complement one another, although ‘Asteroid Transformation’ is more kitschy than ‘Europa’; ‘Europa’ is more transcendental, and the Anubian Lights track is more dancey and a little more tongue-in-cheek, but they are both pretty groovy and stoney, and they both were a lot of fun to do.”

“Europa” and “Asteroid Transformation” are being released together on a limited-edition gold vinyl 7-inch, in tribute to the “Golden Record” included on NASA’s Voyager spacecrafts in 1977. The two tracks will also be available for download via Bandcamp, Apple Music, Amazon and Travis’ website  Abbytravis.com.

For Travis, the biggest challenge of “Europa” was actually synchronizing the record’s release to the launch date of the Europa Clipper, whose mission is to study the Galilean moon Europa while orbiting around Jupiter. “The initial launch date was October 10th, so I was thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’ve gotta get it together to put the record out on the same day,’” she recalls. “And then, right after I bit the bullet to pay for the vinyl to get made, I read an article saying that the transistors in the craft might not be able handle a radiation load that is lower than what is present surrounding Jupiter. And I’m like, ‘Oh, that seems like a pretty big problem…’

“And then they were wondering if they could engineer their way out of it, or if they were going to delay the mission. And you know,” she laughs, “it’s not like I can just call up NASA and be like, ‘Hey, man, what’s going on? I’m trying to release this record — do you think you’re going to stick with the original launch date?”

However, all systems appear to be go — both for the Europa Clipper mission and for the “Europa” single. For Travis, the new single represents not just her own artistic rebirth, but an opportunity to combine her love of making music and with her interest in outer space exploration.
“I’m a fan of NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratories,” she explains, “and thought it would be cool to do a release that brings attention to their mission. I suck at math, but I am a member of the Planetary Society,” she adds with a chuckle.

“NASA does a lot of important stuff for our planet, too,” she continues. “We wouldn’t know about a lot of our climate change problems without NASA, so it’s important for us on a lot of levels. And you know, in this polarized political world that we live in, most people still like outer space. Outer space, dinosaurs, and Dolly Parton — those are the three things that people can still agree on!”

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