Mitski's New Album, Be The Cowboy

Mitski’s sound is persistently evolving and changing—from her early work, self-released Lush (2012) and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013), created while she was still a student at Purchase College’s Conservatory of Music, to Bury Me at Makeout Creek (2014) and Puberty 2 (2016). Her sound continues to transform in Be the Cowboy, going in a different direction than the classic indie rock within Bury Me at Makeout Creek and Puberty 2, but also not quite returning to the combination of mournful, dignified piano and angry punk present in Lush and Retired from Sad. With every Be the Cowboy track, Mitski yet again manages to do something entirely new, but still undeniably her. She notes she “experimented in narrative and fiction,” channeling authentic emotions but also in some ways playing a character, “a very controlled icy repressed woman who is starting to unravel” and grasping at control to avoid being seen as weak. 

Mitski has mentioned her fear of the way the world tends to put female artists on pedestals and quickly knock them down again. The album comes partly from the loneliness she’s felt up there on the pedestal, trying to be both a celebrity—which requires an impenetrably thick skin—and an artist—which paradoxically requires a level of vulnerability. She’s waiting for her audience to start hating her, and is so willing to push boundaries with her sound because of that. She states “Well, before this goes to shit and you stop liking me, I’m going to do something that I know you won’t like, so that I’m the one who’s rejecting you.” 

Mitski is one of those artists that you listen to and feel so deeply understood. It can be tempting to put her on a pedestal—the image of her singing directly into the reverberating strings of her guitar during “Class of 2013” at her Tiny Desk Concert is the epitome of cool. But Be the Cowboy in some ways brings her closer down to earth. Even though it doesn’t sound as emotionally wrought as some of her previous work, it feels more honest. She’s not quite making anthems like "Your Best American Girl" anymore, but she’s made something that feels even more intimate.

In “A Pearl,” Mitski sings “you’re growing tired of me, you love me so hard and I still can’t sleep.” If Be the Cowboy is any indicator, we really aren’t.

Listen to the new album here.

Tour Dates:

OCT 19  PHILADELPHIA, PA
UNION TRANSFER

OCT 20  BOSTON, MA
HOUSE OF BLUES

OCT 21  MONTREAL, QB
L’ASTRAL

OCT 22  TORONTO, ON
DANFORTH MUSIC HALL

OCT 23  DETROIT, MI
MAGIC STICK

OCT 25  CHICAGO, IL
VIC THEATRE

OCT 26  MINNEAPOLIS, MN
FIRST AVENUE

OCT 30  VANCOUVER, BC
IMPERIAL

OCT 31  SEATTLE, WA
THE SHOWBOX

NOV 01  PORTLAND, OR
CRYSTAL BALLROOM

NOV 03  SAN FRANCISCO, CA
WARFIELD THEATRE

NOV 07  LOS ANGELES, CA
THE WILTERN

NOV 08  PHOENIX, AZ
CRESCENT BALLROOM

NOV 10  AUSTIN, TX
EMO’S AUSTIN

NOV 11  DALLAS, TX
TREES

NOV 13  NASHVILLE, TN
THE BASEMENT EAST

NOV 14  ATLANTA, GA
MASQUERADE: HEAVEN STAGE

NOV 16  WASHINGTON, DC
9:30 CLUB

NOV 30  BROOKLYN, NY
BROOKLYN STEEL

DEC 01  BROOKLYN, NY
BROOKLYN STEEL