Mitski - Laurel Hell (2022) [88.2kHz/24bit]

[antonsm]

Mitski - Laurel Hell (2022) 88.2-24
Country: Japan/USA
Genre: Indie Rock
Format: FLAC (*tracks)
Quality: Lossless [88,2 kHz/24 bit]
Time: 32:25
Full Size: 647.14 MB

In 2018, singer-songwriter Mitski (Miyawaki) released the much-acclaimed Be the Cowboy. Just over a year later, she announced that she was taking a break-from touring, from social media; in other words, from the public eye. "I sense that if I don't step away soon, my self-worth/identity will start depending too much on staying in the game, in the constant churn. I don't want to make art like that," she tweeted. Now, you can hear exactly what she was wrestling with-and how-on her seventh studio album, Laurel Hell. The lyrically devastating "Working for the Knife" is an up-close self-examination of one's creative reality and dashed dreams: "I cry at the start of every movie I guess/ 'cause I wish I was making things too/ But I'm working for the knife." It would be too flip to call it the sound of a quarter-life crisis; it's more the realization that successful art is a commodity, complete with horns mocking your pain. At once strident and dreamy, it brings to mind Tori Amos. "Stay Soft" is the natural follow-up to how you deal with the vagaries of the world. "You stay soft, get beaten/ Only natural to harden up," Mitski sings against a chill dancefloor track. Like much of the record, it is delightfully '80s-inflected, vibrating with appealingly plasticky synth and crisp percussion. So are "The Only Heartbreaker," which sounds like the soundtrack for a movie nightclub scene from that era, and "Love Me More"-a slow burn that builds to a frenzy of Mitski chanting "clean me up, clean me up." "Should've Been Me" is Top 40 joyous in the vein of a Phil Collins song-all jangling melody, wild blares and finger-snap-style percussion. It could be read as an apology for checking out: "I haven't given you what you need/ You wanted me but couldn't reach me/ I'm sorry, it should've been me." Hymn-like "I Guess" is about the end of a relationship, but the song's so dreamy and malleable that it could be romantic or platonic love, about another person or a once-passionate goal. "That's Our Lamp" is more clear. As the narrator leaves home after a fight with her partner, she sees things, literally, from the outside and reaches the realization that you can love someone without liking them-a conclusion that triggers a swell of street and crowd sounds to momentarily drown out the pain. WIth the longest song clocking in at just 3:47, these are perfect little portals to remind you that singular ache and longing can be remarkably universal.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4J3Z9xgjWQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmXFF_whkVk

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