I remarked to my husband at the end of 2021 that I was officially entering my indie sad girl years, not to be confused, of course, with my emo sad girl years. I said this after spending a particularly emotional week in the world of The Mountain Goats, and I kind of moved away from the notion as I looked at my Spotify Wrapped and realized I’m still very much emo. And then I listened to the (now three) singles from Mitski’s upcoming album Laurel Hell. And unlike my other most anticipated projects, it’s real and tangibly close to being in my hands.

Not only is this album coming very soon (February 4th), but it is proving to be my favorite Mitski project so far. She is so consistently good at what she does, and for a lot of artists, we would see “sixth album” and write it off as a has been or a reach. But Mitski gets better with age. Her lyricism improves, her confidence in using new instrumentation or new influences improves. Based on the singles so far, I am already placing Laurel Hell in my running for favorite album of the year.

Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz

by Nadia Alves

Nadia Alves has been a music enthusiast since she can remember. Going to shows is her main pastime. The other is being upset when she can’t go to shows. This is her first official venture into writing about music. You can follow her on Twitter.