Be The Cowboy – Mitski

This article was originally posted on the S&R Blog.

There is a handful of reasons why I chose to make this (admittedly quasi) weekly column about my favorite new LP from the previous week, but by far the most selfish is my already existing desire to spam all of my friends with new music until they either finally break down and listen or ignore my suggestions completely. Only one album, however, has caused me absolute consternation after recommendation, as nobody was even bothering to pretend to care. That album was Mitski’sbrilliant Puberty 2, which I still to this day maintain was the best album of 2016.

It is for that reason that I had already picked her fifth effort, Be the Cowboy, for this week even before its release. This is my revenge. The three pre-release singles made this decision easier. Geyser erupts with the passion felt on the previous album’s stellar Your Best American Girl, Nobody’s vocal swings and disco beats are as infectious any plague, and Two Slow Dancers mix of lyrical brilliance and synthetic swells slam into me with an emotional sledgehammer. I knew this album would be great just from the artist’s pedigree alone. What I didn’t know was that Be the Cowboywould be an unmitigated masterpiece.

So many, too many musicians lose their edge with some combination age, fame, and complacence. None of those three have hindered Mitski – in fact, all have instead seemed to sharpen her edges. Age brought perspective, fame brought anxiety, and complacence brought restlessness, the cocktail of which created the musical beauty that doesn’t end even once the final note has played out. It doesn’t take long to finish – every single track is mercilessly short and concise and the full work is just over a half-hour. After my first listen, I sat in silence for another thirty minutes to let everything I had just heard to wash over me. After my second, I did the same. By the time I could move again, the two slow dancers had finally left the gymnasium. They weren’t the last ones out afterall.

Check out Be The Cowboy by Mitski on Spotify and Apple Music.