September Roundup: Everyone say thank you, Mitski
Happy October. September chewed me up and spit me out, so I hope it treated you better than me.
There were many a listen that I enjoyed this month, but equally as many I didn’t. After taking a good hard look at The Spreadsheet, I realized that aside from everything mentioned in this month’s LOTWs, there’s only one other album I loved this month that I haven't given space to talk about.
That said, it’s gotten praise from everyone except me at this point, so I guess it’s just my turn.
HIGHEST RATED: The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We, Mitski (2023)
There isn’t much to say about this record that hasn’t been said. After having fans convinced she was leaving music for good, Mitski has given us the perfect summer-turning-autumn listen with newfound twang and ever-present devastation on The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We, cementing herself as one of the greats of the last 10+ years of the alternative indie scene.
Her spaghetti western influences shine through on tracks like “The Frost” and “Buffalo Replaced,” where steel guitar and classic tumbleweed flare compliment her hushed and sweet vocal delivery that evokes Stranger in the Alps-era Phoebe Bridgers. While many of the country-leaning tracks are on the simpler side (see the acoustic guitar and faraway percussion on “I’m Your Man”), other moments in the record’s instrumentation lean towards the theatrical, with a 17-person choir and full orchestra recruited to join the recording process. “Star” puts the orchestra on display: strings, winds, keys, and horns all join together in layers on layers of sound, building up to an eventual release of energy, signifying the love Mitski says coats the album from top to bottom. “When Memories Snow” is another high point: an under two-minute epic that sees a similar buildup, letting the orchestra lean into a jazzy big band sound. The playful mix of choir vocalizations and animal and bug noises at the end of “I’m Your Man” evokes “Caroline, No” on the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, creating a muggy nighttime scene for the track to take place in.
In the truest of Mitski fashion, even though this is a record about love in its varying forms, some of her lyrics cut a little too close to my internal monologue to seem real. “I Don’t Like My Mind” is my favorite track on the record, simply because of the reliability of its storytelling:
“I don’t like my mind / I don’t like being left alone in a room / With all its opinions about the things that I’ve done”
“And there’s another memory that gets stuck / Inside the walls of my skull, waiting for its turn to talk”
Like, how did she know I’ve been spiraling about the trajectory of my life every time I’m alone? Who else would be able to explain the indescribable feelings of all of your problems coming to attack you the second you’re by yourself than our emotionally aware mother Mitski?
On The Land, Mitski reminds everyone of her longstanding legacy as a canonical figure of the 2010s/2020s indie pop genre, and takes unique liberties to show the different creative avenues she has yet to go down.
Top tracks: “Bug Like An Angel,” “I Don’t Like My Mind,” “When Memories Snow,” “The Frost”
That is truly all I have in me for this month. Here’s hoping October doesn’t have the same vendetta against me that September did. All other favorites are on the playlist, as always.
Also, check out my Best Fit track review for Brooklyn-based Daneshevskaya’s new single “Challenger Deep” here.
