Following on from last month’s “Working For The Knife”, Mitski has confirmed that she’ll release a new album called Laurel Hell on February 4 through Dead Oceans. About the album, she says:
“I needed love songs about real relationships that are not power struggles to be won or lost,. I needed songs that could help me forgive both others and myself. I make mistakes all the time. I don’t want to put on a front where I’m a role model, but I’m also not a bad person. I needed to create this space mostly for myself where I sat in that gray area.”
She’s also shared a single called “The Only Heartbreaker”, saying:
“[It depicts] the person always messing up in the relationship, the designated Bad Guy who gets the blame. It could simply be about that, but I also wanted to depict something sadder beneath the surface, that maybe the reason you’re always the one making mistakes is because you’re the only one trying.”
“The Only Heartbreaker” is an energetic rocker that fuses Mitski’s worried words to a propulsive beat and sky-reaching guitar reminiscent of The War On Drugs. This leaves plenty of space for Mitski to emote and pontificate, which she does aplenty. We begin with her in a quiet place, wishing for her partner to make a mistake for once, then soon bounds out into the open with admissions of her own shortcomings – “I’ll be the loser in this game / I’ll be the bad guy in the play / I’ll be the water main that’s burst and flooding.” With the motorik beat beneath, it feels like pressure is building, with more synth melodies worming their way in until “The Only Heartbreaker” does reach a minor explosion as it heads into its closing minute.
The video for “The Only Heartbreaker”, co-directed by Maegan Houang and Jeff Desom, sees Mitski – or her protagonist – taking her destructive tendencies to even greater, global extremes. Check it out below or listen on streaming platforms.
Mitski’s new album Laurel Hell comes out on February 4 through Dead Oceans (pre-order/save). You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
