Mitski - "This Land is Inhospitable and So Are We"

The title is PERFECT

Mitski is very nearly in a niche of her own. Her style is this intricate blend of Indie Rock and Art Pop (and vice-versa) with heavy Folk elements worked in, as well. I discovered Mitski a few years ago when I was still pretty new to this reviewing thing. Pitchfork had this habit of just gratuitously mentioning her, so I had to check her out and, long story short, I wasn’t nearly as impressed by her 2018 release, Be the Cowboy, as they were; ironically, I thought last year’s Laurel Hell was better and Pitchfork scored it lower (though their score was still maybe slightly higher than mine).

Despite this inexplicable association with Pitchfork in my head, I have to acknowledge that Mitski is an incredible talent, and I appreciate how unique she is.

Stylistically, this album is still very much a blend of Art and Indie Pop with Rock stylings. There are also a lot of Americana and Country influences at play, as wastelands were a driving influence for the tone. Many songs utilize a steel guitar, and there’s a lot of haunting ambience aside from that instrument, as well. It is very much a laid-back, downtempo album, and its eleven songs run for just over thirty minutes, total.

Opening track “Bug Like an Angel” is pretty and yet uncomfortable — lyrically, but also stylistically, especially the first time the crowd of backing vocals pipes up, because it goes from this nice, soft, light sound to suddenly being LOUD. “Buffalo Replaced” also has a lyrically-strange moment with this strange descriptor of hope:

I have a hope and though she's blind with no name
She shits where she's supposed to, feeds herself while I'm away
Sometimes I think it would be easier without her
But I know nothing can hurt me when I see her sleepin' face

It’s a bizarre metaphor (I hope it’s a metaphor), but it kinda works.

And this really underscores the biggest strength of the album - the writing. The melodies are also creative and inventive, but the lyrical writing is the heart of it…

With a few exceptions.

“Heaven” is a bit too repetitive, and “I Don’t Like My Mind” is… dense. It’s metaphorical, but it also doesn’t really connect for me.

Most of the tracks are solid, though, even if they’re a bit brief - most of the eleven tracks clock in at under three minutes. The longest track, “The Deal”, almost hits four minutes, though, and it’s the best track on the album.

“The Deal” plays with Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is a Thing With Feathers” and draws it out in line with the album’s thematic elements. It is gorgeous on every level.

At large, the album’s title is an excellent representation of its core concepts and motifs; the title is the central theme. There’s a lot of hopelessness, depression, and anxiety going around nowadays, along with the general feeling that the world isn’t doing well. The land is inhospitable and so are we.

So, in spite of its brevity, I’m going to sit on this one a bit longer. It’s good. I just need to decide how good. Because much of what I’m enjoying here is how it all ties together as a unit.

I’m especially impressed that it’s better than last year’s album — that’s something incredibly rare, no matter who the artist is.

Rating: Teal Green