Mitski
Be The Cowboy

“though I am a geyser

feel the bubbling from below”

And here comes Mitski with her third and awaited chapter “Be the Cowboy”. The title is laden: the cowboy is the typical example of American attitude – you arrive in a place, destroy everything that was there, conquer and return home hailed. Mitski, who has had a mostly Eastern upbringing, is as far from a cowboy as you can get. She is like one of those people who apologizes if you step on their foot, just for existing. So for her, immersing herself in this aggressive role is stepping out of her comfort zone.

And it is precisely this clash of cultures of the Japanese-American singer that creates a mysterious atmosphere in her compositions. But if in the past Mitski had “hidden” behind soft-rock songs, this time, she steps on the gas and focuses on a more solid sound balanced between rock, country, and electronics. The album ranges from more upbeat and electric tracks like “Remember My Name” (with a killer 90s bass) or “Why Didn’t You Stop Me”, to the power pop of “Washing Machine Heart” and “Nobody”, up to electro-rock ballads like “Geyser” (the organ insert in the finale almost simulating the “bubbling from below” in the lyrics is fantastic) and “Two Slow Dancers” (respectively a superb opening and closing of the album). A special mention goes to the best piece of her career “A Pearl” which offers us a goosebump-inducing crescendo of horns in the finale.

In the lyrics department, the singer-songwriter does not disappoint, as usual. Her short stories highlight the difficulty of human relationships and showing oneself for who they are, without superstructures. It's hard not to get caught up in the live storytelling of “Old Friend” or the wacky relationship (with herself) of “Lonesome Love”. Even in this case, the singer appears bolder and more direct than in the past, perhaps also to break out of the stereotype of shyness that the media have stitched onto her (why must female singer-songwriters always be saddled with phrases as half-assed as “this record is a transcription of a diary, of lived experiences”? This diary thing always leads to them being seen as weak and/or teenagers who go home, cry on the diary and write a song).

In short, with this album, Mitski transitions from “Puberty 2” (the title of her second album) to artistic maturity, and she does it with her usual class, but also distancing herself from the indie sound that characterized previous works. That the singer was ready to expose herself more is already visible on the cover: if in Puberty 2 she appeared as a girl lost in the fields, here we see her made up as she prepares to step on stage and conquer us, with a determined look. And I would say that the devastation and the conquest, at least in my case, have succeeded. Now I eagerly await the next step.