Popular Indie music artist Mitski released an album called, The Land is Inhospitable And So Are We, on September 15th of this year. This beautifully written, southern sounding album is Mitski’s 7th studio album, and a direct contrast to her more industrial leaning last album, Laurel Hell .
This is Part 1 of my personal review, analysis and ranking of TLIIASAW.
Disclaimer: Everything said in this album review is my opinion and my opinion alone. This is NOT a collective opinion by the Voices Of Roosevelt Team and it is completely fine to agree and/or disagree with takes I may have in regards to my album reviews.
- Buffalo Replaced – In the first stanza, the way Mitski decides to sing these lyrics is in no way gentle, it’s very much a melancholy, desperate type of aggression towards the feeling of not fitting in. The narrator is at a complete disconnect from the change that is happening around her. This is almost a direct contrast from the second part of the song, where she longingly sings about her seemingly neglected “hope”. The delivery of the lyrics noticeably slides off of her tongue more softly, as if she’s comforting a child. Though it’s not the most musically interesting song, and the lyrics seem to almost blend into the backing track, the creativity of Mitski’s beautiful lyrics cannot be understated.
“ have a hope and though she’s blind with no name
She sh*ts where she’s supposed to, feeds herself while I’m away”
- Bug Like an Angel – The smooth and almost angelic delivery of the lines of this song do well in hiding the true meaning, which is of the effects of generational alcoholism and slowly coming to terms with it while simultaneously blaming others for the narrator’s own addiction. Though sung innocently, there’s a certain dread that comes with going through the motions of understanding while also desperately trying to shift the blame with our narrator.
“I try to remember the wrath of the devil
Was also given him by God”
- I Don’t Like My Mind – Popular on social media, this melancholic song is the most straightforward of the album. The narrator is very self aware of how she acts, and she seems to almost be regrettably relaying this information to herself while she’s completely alone on an inconvenient Christmas. She seems to be completely and utterly overwhelmed and tasked with job she has, but begs to keep throughout the album. All this being amplified with Mitski’s insanely impressive vocal range. Simple, yet just as, or more than, heartache inducing as the rest of this spectacularly impressive album.
“And then I get sick and throw up and there’s another memory that gets stuck
Inside the walls of my skull waiting for its turn to talk”
- Heaven – this song beacons a sweet, smooth type of desperation from the narrator’s voice, mourning the loss of something or someone important in her life. In this song we’re taken through the story of this pure, almost innocent type of longing for the person that the narrator has lost. Throughout this song, we see small glimpses of the stages in her grieving process, which include anger, sadness, acceptance and forgiveness. The first stanza seems to be almost angry, describing this feeling as a curse that the person has struck her with. The second stanza appears to be her finally allowing herself to grieve, and indicates that it was a sudden death with unfinished things being left around for our narrator to discover. And the last stanza, finally coming to terms with her loss, with the music supporting this new “freedom” the person has gained in dying.
“As I sip on the rest of the coffee you left
A kiss left of you”
- The Deal – In this song, The narrator discovers that on a walk home alone she’s able to make a deal. The song follows her as she absentmindedly takes the opportunity to make said deal, where she chooses for her soul to be taken from her, for the sake of her pain being taken away. She recounts this moment as a past, as if she isn’t experiencing it herself anymore, setting up an incredibly well thought out foreshadowing for later in the song. On the rest of this walk she finds a “Bird” (her detached soul) perched on a streetlight. The bird describes what will now happen in this punctual and beautifully tragic portion of the song. The “birds” song states that the narrator will never be free again due to losing her soul, with the music at the end absolutely amplifying the loss of the narrator’s soul with the increase in bass, almost completely overtaking the last portion of the song.
You’re a cage without me
Your pain is eased but you’ll never be free, for
Now I’m taken, the night has me
Absolutely NO song in this beautiful, musically intelligent and absolutely lyrically stunning album is bad at all, all of these songs could be classified as my favorites. It was an insanely hard task to rank them, but I’m so excited to be able to continue the 2nd part of my review which will cover the rest of Mitski’s songs in this album, which includes My Love Mine All Mine, a fan favorite of the Mitski community and a very popular song online. The 2nd part of my review of TLIIASAW should be in our upcoming printed issue, so please give it a read!
