Best Coast announced an indefinite hiatus a couple of months ago, and now bandleader Bethany Cosentino is getting ready to release Natural Disaster, her first-ever solo album. The LP comes out later this week, and we’ve already posted Cosentino’s early songs “It’s Fine” and “For A Moment.” Now, just a few days before the record drops, Cosentino has shared the title track.

“Natural Disaster” is a bright, shimmery power-pop jam that’s a whole lot more produced than what Bethany Cosentino was doing with Best Coast. It really makes use of her voice, too. Over chunky guitar chords, Cosentino belts out a catchy hook about the looming apocalypse: “This is the hottest summer I can ever remember ’cause the world is on fire / And hey, if we’re all dying, then what does it matter? / We’re a natural disaster!” That’s not catchy on paper, but it’s catchy when she sings it.

In a press release, Cosentino says:

“Natural Disaster” was absolutely the easiest song on the album to write. Producer and songwriter Suzy Shinn sent me an instrumental track, and the moment I heard it, I ran to my music room and wrote this. It was one of those songs that felt like it was just waiting to come out of me. The message is very clear: I had been thinking a lot about the energy of the summer of 2020 in particular. Political upheaval, protests against police brutality, wildfires throughout the state of California, and other natural disasters around the globe. That chaotic energy was palpable on planet Earth. The song is meant to serve as a commentary on the way we as humans go about our business as the world around us crumbles and literally burns. Thinking about the way our planet is changing is wildly anxiety-producing, but it’s very real, so I hope this song can call attention to it while also giving people something to sing along to.

In director Aaron Preusch’s video, Cosentino dances in front of projected footage of landscapes and fires. Check it out below.

Natural Disaster is out 7/28 on Concord Records.