The land is inhospitable, and so is this typeface
"Bug like an Angel" introduces the core pieces of this album: rhythmic guitar chords, Mitski's spacey vocals, clever lyrics. Only on four listens am I not surprised by the drop at "Family." Also introduces a backing chorus, echo/reverb, depth of instrument. Themes of regret, reflection. Motifs of insects? I guess. Bugs, mosquitos, fireflies, whatever.
This land is inhospitable, and so are some of these drops.
The album opens up through the tracks' soundstage—"Buffalo" brings in a much heavier guitar thrum. "I Don't Like My Mind" keeps up the clever writing, but has a bouncy vocal tempo I'd expect from a down the line Americana/folk album. "Heaven" closes with 30 seconds of keys, which I dunno, almost grates against me.
This land is inhospitable, and so is some of this piano work.
There are also some very interesting things going on. The opening guitar of "The Deal" instantly takes me back to say, a Caroline Rose voicemail song, but then morphs and lands with an operatic chorus. Or "I'm Your Man," with all its angel/dog, dog/man, dog/god, god/man, etc. lyricism, leaks and then evolves into dog-barkin, cricket-chirping cacophony, NOT man-made sounds. Cute. Then after all that production on love, hurt, regret, growth, acceptance, etc., "I Love Me After You" is as straight-forward a theme and album closer as any, and well landed.
Sometimes this album rubs me the wrong way. It's inhospitable. Whether that's intentional or coincidental or psychosomatic I have no idea and doesn't matter. Because despite that, I find myself quite enjoying listening to this. Somehow 30 minutes of album feels lengthier than that in an expansive way, rather than a dragging way. The little pieces of grating annoyance become the little facets of texture that make the whole thing feel a bit special.
We are inhospitable, and thus so is this land.
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