- It was perhaps the 2014 release of third album Bury Me At Makeout Creek which truly heralded the arrival of Mitski Miyawaki, the Japanese-American singer/songwriter musician who stepped back from her classical piano training to re-introduce herself as a raw guitar indie-pop practitioner.
With each record attracting greater attention than the last, the trend looks set to continue with Mitski’s new set of songs, collectively titled Be The Cowboy. Length-wise, at least, this the most economic record she’s yet done, as fourteen songs glide by in just over half-an-hour. With her long-time producer Patrick Hyland, Mitski manages to present songs that combine lo-fi and sonic majesty occasionally echoing mid-period Mount Eerie in its ability to sound both intimate and epic at the same time.
She can also fit a heck of a lot of musical ideas into two-and-a-half minutes without making the track sound overloaded, as in the opening song and first single Geyser, which starts out almost like a sacred song with its uplifting organ chords, before it gradually rises into a gently triumphant rock tune, enhanced with some nifty keyboard fanfares.
Why Didn’t You Stop Me is straight-out synth-pop but with hints of guitar grit that ensure the song would go down well at Twin Peaks’ Bang Bang Bar. The chiming electronica elements are present for Old Friend as well, but are combined with the driest sounding acoustic guitar ever and vocals from Mitski that sound like she’s in the room with you, intoning the lyrics over your shoulder.
Vocally, she’s never sounded better, her voice imbued with sadness and empathy yet never too emotionally cathartic to distance the listener. Even at her most haunted, as in the sparse, eerie A Horse Named Cold Air, there’s a cool, melodic sense to her delivery that keeps even the weirdest moments relatively grounded. Blue Light is one of the more abstract mini-canvases Mitski provides, starting as thumping noir rock before disintegrating into an echo-drenched ambient ballad.
Like many records, she chooses the longest track to close the album. Clocking in at a comparatively time-consuming 3:59, Two Slow Dancers is a gently rising synth lullaby, Mitski’s voice at its most pure and heartfelt.
What’s impressive is how much Mitski manages to pack into thirty-two minutes. From lo-fi, clanging indie-guitar workouts such as A Pearl to the melancholic country-rock of Lonesome Love to the metronomic ‘80's throwback Washing Machine Heart, Mitski never loses herself in the process, her distinctive vocals adding a stamp of identity to every tune.
- Matt Thrower.