Mitski: Laurel Hell review – a deep dive you can dance to

(Dead Oceans)
The indie artist delivers devastating emotional truths and unsettling imagery – with sharp hooks and an 80s pop sheen

Made up in equal parts of emotional pop bangers and riveting electronic anomie, Mitski’s hotly anticipated fifth album does not disappoint. This Japanese American indie artist’s strides towards the mainstream are laced with resonant themes; disembodied hands, cleanliness and “the dark” recur as images.

The hooks are sharp. A series of tunes skew hard towards sleek, oversaturated 80s pop. In addition to the maximalist cris de coeur The Only Heartbreaker and Love Me More – both previously released – Mitski packs in bouncy romps such as Should’ve Been Me, outlining the pitfalls of a relationship with deceptive orchestral cheer. The dulcet Americana of Heat Lightning could sit easily alongside the notionally more commercial work of Lana Del Rey.

And yet the mesmerising album opener – Valentine, Texas – and its devastating midpoint – Everyone – cast Mitski as an altogether more frightening artist, a fierce being with “wet teeth”, one who ill-advisedly invites in “the dark” to take “whatever it wants”. “But it didn’t want me/ Yet,” she notes, a phrase pregnant with unresolved tension and dissonant musicality. This is an album that wrestles with the sisyphean slog of remaining engaged – with love, with work, with life. And you can dance to it.

Watch the video for Love Me More by Mitski.

Contributor

Kitty Empire

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Mitski review – her dark materials
The Japanese-American auteur explores deals with the devil and future hauntings in an intimate church show that foregrounds her pure vocals

Kitty Empire

14, Oct, 2023 @1:00 PM

Article image
Mitski review – an emotional Tough Mudder of indie rock
The Japanese-American singer-songwriter gives a conceptual art performance and full body workout along with her compelling laments of lust, loneliness and death

Kitty Empire

29, Sep, 2018 @4:00 PM

Article image
Mitski review – a triumphant return for the poet laureate of outsiders
After a TikTok hit brought her out of early retirement, the US songwriter reaches deep into her back catalogue for a taut, artful and intense set

Kitty Empire

30, Apr, 2022 @1:00 PM

Article image
Mitski: The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We review – moving, exquisitely measured Americana
The Japanese-American singer-songwriter sounds deceptively sweet on this lush, contemplative album largely recorded in Nashville

Kitty Empire

17, Sep, 2023 @8:00 AM

Article image
Music: Kitty Empire’s 10 best albums of 2022
Non-stop dance parties, retro beats and dreamy vignettes vied with slacker rock, flamenco-inflected R&B and no end of heartbreakThe Observer critics’ review of 2022 in full

Kitty Empire

18, Dec, 2022 @11:00 AM

Article image
Ider: Shame review – another classy deep dive
Megan Markwick and Lily Somerville call the shots once more on this freewheeling follow-up to 2019’s superb Emotional Education

Kitty Empire

08, Aug, 2021 @8:00 AM

Article image
Sports Team: Deep Down Happy review – debut album with plenty to say
This six-piece band marry Britpop sensibilities with a US alt-rock sound

Phil Mongredien

21, Jun, 2020 @2:00 PM

Article image
Childish Gambino: 3.15.20 review – a deep-dive made for self-isolation
The actor and musician’s long-delayed fourth album is a tour de force

Kitty Empire

28, Mar, 2020 @2:00 PM

Article image
Black Midi: Hellfire review – exhilarating ambition
The Londoners freely cram genres and ideas into their concept album about death

Phil Mongredien

17, Jul, 2022 @8:00 AM

Article image
Helado Negro: Phasor review – undimmable warmth
Digital meets analogue on the American musician’s short but sweet latest

Damien Morris

11, Feb, 2024 @3:00 PM