Laurel Hell - Mitski: Review

Mitski

is a Japanese-American indie musician who successfully made the transition from indie darling across her first 3 albums to full blown sad girl sensation in the wake of her 2018 album Be The Cowboy. Mitski's notoriously low profile on social media has generally kept her out of the news since then but she emerged last year with a series of singles leading to this highly anticipated follow-up.

Review By Lav:

There's a LOT of love for Mitski out there, trust me. When I published my review of Be The Cowboy I thought I was fairly assessing what Mitski did right as a lyricist with a strong grip on stringing conceptual emotional themes through her music, as well as what she did wrong as a songwriter penning tracks that lulled with no momentum and ended completely abruptly like the album equivalent of edging. That didn't go over well. As you know if you've ever tweeted anything about Phoebe Bridgers, talking about Mitski online will flood your DMs with Lady Bird profile pics in a hurry. So listen, I like Phoebe's music, I like Lady Bird and I even like Mitski but none of them are perfect, and Mitski's flaws are the clearest. These songs are not finished, someone with stricter music theory requirements may take issue with me even calling most of these "songs" because they don't have the parts. The ramble through a momentum-less haze of refrains which stop and start for seemingly no reason and then right around the time the tracks give you the brief sensation that something is beginning, it's over. 

So it really is a testament to how talented Mitski is that I don't hate this album, in fact I like it. This is mostly a break-up album but she handles it in a very unique way and her vocals while occasionally thin are deployed in some really enjoyable ways. Pretty much every song here features enjoyable lyrical themes and I will take some time to dive into a few of my favorite when I get there. On the other hand pretty much every song here (with the exception of a few singles that land in the mid-point of the record) is compositionally languid and completely abandons all momentum to end before it ever really started. This album is absolutely caked in this dichotomy of good and bad and while I won't get caught up in it you should know that it envelops Laurel Hell.

So now it's time to actually talk about some of these 11 tracks. The album itself, just like the era it represents got off to a pretty rough start. Working For The Knife was the lead single and comes with some pretty big instrumental promises that do not pair well with the vocals or lyrics whatsoever. The metallic percussion and rushing heartland rock guitars make this seem like some kind of epic call to the heavens but it's actually just a very tepid and defeated song about living under some kind of oppressive force, likely capitalism. And hey capitalism is stupid and oppressive for sure and Mitski touches on some great lyrical concepts here but it's so mismatched that I can't possibly understand what the track is aiming to say, or hoping to convey emotionally. 

The albums actual opener Valentine, Texas isn't much better even though I like the way it starts. It kicks everything off lulling you in before erupting with a wall of droning distant synths right as the first verse finished. The desire to seemingly get away from it all in a beautifully naturalistic sense is compelling but the utterly dull way the refrains are sung and written is absolutely exhausting. Everyone is probably the worst track on the album. Even though it has a title that promises big things and it's the longest song on the record it doesn't live up to either of those. While I do kind of like the pummeling fuzzy beat and slow quiet synth chords that echo out into space. Well what can I say the song just plods along refusing to develop in any meaningful way maintaining the exact same energy and tone throughout. 

The rest of the record is much better but I do have to comment on Should've Been Me which is the most Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go ass song of Mitski's entire career. The vocal processing and the bouncy synth lines that come in during the post-chorus tell you EXACTLY what she was listening to while making this track. The lyrics sound like Mitski is apologizing for being emotionally unavailable in her relationship but the instrumental sounds like a one off soundtrack cut from an 80's teen movie. Unlike many other songs, even other songs on this record that aim for a similar contrast between sound and theme, there is not one hint of irony on either side anywhere in this track and I just don't understand it.

So that's where I see the record as going wrong, at least majorly wrong. Let's switch chords drastically. While the lead single did very little to drum up my excitement for this album pretty much every single since has been a massive improvement and they come one after another right in the middle of the record. Heat Lightning lives up to the Mitski promise of short songs that pack an emotional punch. Not only do the lyrics work towards a compelling release but the instrumental erupts perfectly in time with the catharsis for a moment that still gives me goosebumps. Once again this track ends completely out of nowhere but I'm giving it a pass because Mitski seems to have a conscious desire to subvert expectations directly after both hooks and the two choices make each other more compelling.

The Only Heartbreaker was another single that connected with me immediately. I love the punchy drums that just burst into the mix and the soaring synth lines sound authentically retro in a great way. While the chorus is basically just the title of the song it's also the catchiest thing on the entire record so I can't complain. The ripping guitar solo on the last minute of the track is just delicious icing on the cake. Finally there's Love Me More which I like even more now than I originally did as a single. Mitski really has a knack for these compelling rushes of synths and how to make the sound genuinely sour to match the tone of a song. I suspect the "you" in this song isn't exactly a specific person and more just a representation of Mitski's need for love to crowd out the isolation she sets up in the opening verse. Clearly I like this song a lot.

Stay Soft is the one bright spot in the records opening run. It's a bouncy New Order lite synth pop song and the big highlight is once again Mitski's songwriting. She employs a hilarious double entendre about being "soft" that sounds like something Japanese Breakfast would have written 4 years ago. It's also one of the more compositionally robust and interesting tracks here. That's Out Lamp is the closing track that kicks off with a springy ass synth line that serves as the bassline for the whole song to embody prime 80's cheese. Like much of the album it reminisces on a past relationship with a shiny synth pop veneer but I actually think this one pulls off the dichotomy quite well since the instrumental is clearly meant to represent the times in their relationship she's singing about where they really were in love.

There are two more tracks and I'm mostly positive about them but I think they're the most forgettable of the bunch. There's Nothing Left To Do is another slow burner but it does have the chilling atmosphere to back it up. Even when it does finally blow up it aims for something so loud that some of the details kind of fall apart along the way. This song also ends completely out of nowhere though it's not actually the worst example. I Guess is the records reserved ballad which have never been my favorite Mitski songs but this is far from the worst. I appreciate yet another unique lyrical angel of Mitski thanking the person who just ended their relationship because it allowed her to find clarity of her own. 

I have no idea if this review properly reflects how conflicted I am about Mitski's music. In one sense when I listen to this album I have a genuine appreciation for her as a songwriter even if every songs ends right when you think it should really be beginning. But when I reflect on it I feel almost identical towards it as I did for Be The Cowboy. Last month on the Music Corner YouTube channel I made a video talking about records I was "wrong" about when I initially reviewed them. One of these was Mitski's Puberty 2, by far her best album. I talked about how I originally thought it was okay but after the release of Be The Cowboy I realized how much better Puberty 2 was at actually matching Mitski's writing talents with the right level of compositional and instrumental ambition. This record doubles down on that, hard. It features pretty much all the good and bad parts of Be The Cowboy but modified to fit these spacey synth heavy break-up songs. 

So no I can't say this record redefined my perception of Mitski or showed me the piece I was missing all along, I mostly feel the same way I have for years. I guess my biggest takeaway from it all is that I think in the years since Be The Cowboy I've gotten at least a little better at finding the words to express my thoughts on Mitski and her music, though I don't expect that to stop any of her fans from sending me angry DMs. 6/10

Album Cover Review by Tyler Judson:

I have problems with this cover but I strangely still sort of like it. Each time I view it I like it more but my first impression was that it was made in PicsArt. While it is simple in design and doesn't have a real concept or direction it has all the making of a decent album cover. Any simpleton would know what this is and that's good, but I'm not at all excited by it. Because I don't know where I will stand on this when I look at it again I think the score will have to land right in the middle of the road. 5/10

For more "indie girls" check out my review of the new FKA Twigs mixtape Caprisongs here