More about: Mitski
+ the announcement of a new album
Mitski’s back, turns out she wasn’t retiring and I’ve never been happier to be wrong about anything.
Her new album and first single were announced quietly through her fan newsletter, Mitski Leaks, with a modest voice note stating “Hi this is Mitski and I’m at Bomb Shelter studios in Nashville, where we recorded my new album that’s coming out. It’s called The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We and it’s first single it coming out on Wednesday.”
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'Bug Like an Angel' begins with an unaccompanied guitar playing an unmistakably trademark Mitski drop D chord progression. “There’s a bug like an angel stuck to the bottom of my glass” the first lyric drops. Devastating poetry hidden in simple observation sung with a crisp diction, sweetly crooned: this is what we love Mitski for. The electric 80s feel of her last album, Laurel Hell, is nowhere to be found. There are no synths here, instead the production reminds me more of certain tracks from her earlier records, 'I Bet on Losing Dogs' springs to mind, as does 'Last Words of a Shooting star'.
The production is stripped back so Mitski’s quintessential cutting lyrics dominate, and we are left nursing the wound cut by the last line “I try to remember the wrath of the devil was also given to him by god”. While the production may feel less like Laurel Hell, the tone of gentle ennui and maturity of emotion established in songs like Working for the Knife and I Guess is mirrored.
The highlight of production, for me, is the addition of a choir behind Mitski’s voice which reflects the religious (or perhaps sacrilegious) undertones of the lyrics. Patrick Highland, Mitski’s producer, is a master at creating moments that lift you up and make your hair stand on end. I think of the crescendo of 'Geyser' or the outro of 'Carry Me Out' and choirs seem like an obvious addition, these moments have always felt like worship. Bug Like an Angel is excellent, and captured me more immediately than the leading single of her last record.
It bodes well for the album, releasing on the 15th September.
Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.
More about: Mitski
