Mitski, “once again assuming the posture of a clear-eyed sage nursing an age-old wound” (Pitchfork), will release her seventh album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We on September 15th via Dead Oceans. Today, she releases two new songs, “Star” and “Heaven,” following lead single, “Bug Like an Angel,” offering a further glimpse into The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, Mitski’s most sonically expansive, epic, and wise album to-date, and announces European and UK intimate, acoustic performances titled Amateur Mistake (on sale information included below). Mitski wrote these songs in little bursts over the past few years, with both “Heaven” and “Star” dating back years and taking varied shapes before reaching their final iterations.
“Star” evokes an alien lift; its Scott Walker-inspired drone progressively building before an otherworldly organ takes over as Mitski sings “That love is like a star/It’s gone, we just see it shining/’Cause it’s traveled very far, I’ll/Keep a leftover light/Burning/So you can keep looking up/I am yours no matter.” “Heaven,” with its Patsy Cline-swing and Old Hollywood vibe, offers a beautiful moment of passion and masterful display of hope. “Now I bend like a willow thinking of you/Like a murmuring brook curving about you/As I sip on the rest of the coffee you left/A kiss left of you/ Heaven, heaven, heaven,” sings Mitski, even though the “dark awaits us all around the corner.” Mitski worked with arranger and conductor Drew Erickson and a full orchestra at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles to bring out the sweeping romance of these songs.
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We was recorded at both the Bomb Shelter in East Nashville and the aforementioned Sunset Sound Studios. For the first time, it felt important to Mitski to have a band recording live together in the studio. Working with her longtime producer Patrick Hyland, the album is informed by moments of noticing — noticing a sound that’s out of place, a building that groans in decay, an opinion that splits a room, a feeling that can’t be contained in a body.
The Land repeatedly offers the same hypothesis. Without love, is there anyone here? Love is always radical, which means that it always disrupts, which means that it always takes work to receive it. The album is full of the ache of grown-up, seemingly mundane heartbreaks and joys that are often unsung but feel enormous. From the bottom of a glass, to a driveway slushy with memory and snow, to a freight train barreling through the Midwest, and all the way to the moon, it feels like everything and everyone is crying out, screaming in pain, arching towards love. On The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, love is time-traveling to bless our tender days, like the light from a distant star. This land, which already feels inhospitable to so many of its inhabitants, is about to feel hopelessly torn and tossed again – at times, devoid of love. This album offers the anodyne.
Amateur Mistake: A night of intimate, acoustic performance from Mitski previewing her new album
Presale begins Thu. Sep. 7 at 12p BST/1p CET with on sale the following day, Fri. Sep. 8.
All UK/EU online shop preorders for The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We are guaranteed presale access, including existing pre-orders.
Sat. Oct. 7 – Edinburgh, UK @ Queens Hall
Mon. Oct. 9 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Wed. Oct. 11 – London, UK @ Union Chapel
Sat. Oct. 14 – Berlin, DE @ Babylon
Mon. Oct. 16 – Utrecht, NL @ Tivoli / Vredenburg
Fri. Oct. 20 – Paris, FR @ Le Trianon
