Dork
  • Music News
    • Latest News
    • Album Release Schedule
  • Features
    • Features & Interviews
    • Artist Guides
    • In Photos
  • New Music
    • Hype
    • Hype News
    • Hype Features & Interviews
    • Hype Reviews
  • Reviews
    • Album & EP Reviews
    • Live Reviews
  • Playlists
    • The Cut
    • Bangers
    • Hype
  • Radio
    • Home
    • Shows
      • Down With Boring
      • Mez’s Sunday Lunch
    • Playlist
    • Listen Again
    • Podcast
      • Apple Podcasts
      • Spotify
      • Google Podcasts
      • Stitcher
      • aCast
      • TuneIn
  • Magazine
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Print Subscriptions
    • Print + Digital Subscriptions
  • Supporters
    • Support Dork
    • Supporter Only Content
    • Digital Library
  • Dork Live
HTML5 RADIO PLAYER PLUGIN WITH REAL VISUALIZER powered by Sodah Webdesign Dexheim
Dork
  • Music News
    • Latest News
    • Album Release Schedule
  • Features
    • Features & Interviews
    • Artist Guides
    • In Photos
  • New Music
    • Hype
    • Hype News
    • Hype Features & Interviews
    • Hype Reviews
  • Reviews
    • Album & EP Reviews
    • Live Reviews
  • Playlists
    • The Cut
    • Bangers
    • Hype
  • Radio
    • Home
    • Shows
      • Down With Boring
      • Mez’s Sunday Lunch
    • Playlist
    • Listen Again
    • Podcast
      • Apple Podcasts
      • Spotify
      • Google Podcasts
      • Stitcher
      • aCast
      • TuneIn
  • Magazine
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Print Subscriptions
    • Print + Digital Subscriptions
  • Supporters
    • Support Dork
    • Supporter Only Content
    • Digital Library
  • Dork Live
  • Album & EP Reviews

Mitski – Be The Cowboy

  • Dork
  • August 13, 2018
Label: Dead Oceans
Released: 17th August 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

No one does vulnerability like Mitski. Whether it’s an overblown indie rock banger, a jazzy number with an elaborate horn arrangement or an intimate piano ballad, every single track on ‘Be The Cowboy’ is tremendously compelling.

Lead single and opener ‘Geyser’ is a song that literally embodies its title, bubbling under the surface until the chorus explodes. The momentum she displays on it is unstoppable, rolling through the album like an avalanche triggered by the sound of a heart breaking.

Mitski’s records have always been like opening up her diary, but there’s something particularly striking about the lyrics this time around. “Walk up in my high heels, all high and mighty, then you say hello and I lose” on ‘Lonesome Love’ is heart-on-your-sleeve like no other. The same goes for the simplicity of “somebody kiss me, I’m going crazy” on ‘Blue Light’. ‘A Pearl’ has the spunk of a Nirvana song with the sincerity of a 3 am phone call to an old flame.

‘Be The Cowboy’ is packed with fantastic contradictions like those. ‘Nobody’ channels The Cardigans’ ‘Lovefool’, but couldn’t be further from it lyrically. The relatively disturbing imagery conjured up on ‘Washing Machine Heart’ (“toss your dirty shoes in my washing machine heart, baby, bang it up inside”) is offset by Mitski’s sugary sweet delivery and clapping song beat.

Her fifth full-length is decidedly less lo-fi than her previous records, too. While the lyrics remain painfully candid, the vocals are far less muffled, and the instrumentation clearer, creating an overall more confident, braver, feel. It’s as if she’s made peace with her yearning – she can shout louder now.

Clocking in at 32 and a half minutes, ‘Be The Cowboy’ isn’t a long listen, but Christ, you’ll feel every second. As always, Mitski may be an indie rock artist, but her songwriting and ability to open up her chest, showing off her never-healing heart, position her as the absolute antithesis of the genre.

Abigail Firth

You May Also Like
View Post
  • Features

Lime Cordiale: “The more stupid our music is, the more fun it is”

  • August 17, 2022
View Post
  • Music News

Charli XCX and AJ Tracey join the line-up for Reading & Leeds 2022

  • August 18, 2022
View Post
  • Music News

The Wombats are set to drop new music tomorrow, ‘Is This What It Feels Like To Feel Like This?’

  • August 15, 2022
Latest issue
Latest
    • Music News
    Circa Waves have surprise dropped a new EP: “We feel like we’ve hit our stride”
    • Music News
    Iceage have announced a new compilation of B-sides, rarities and unreleased tracks
    • Music News
    PVA have shared a new single, ‘Bad Dad’
    • Music News
    The National’s new Bon Iver collab ‘Weird Goodbyes’ has a release date
    • Music News
    BLACKPINK have dropped their new track, ‘Pink Venom’ – watch

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get pop nonsense to your inbox.

Dork
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Privacy
© 2016-2021 The Bunker Publishing Ltd

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

Cookies

To make this site work properly, we sometimes place small data files called cookies on your device.
Accept
Change Settings
Cookie Box Settings
Cookie Box Settings

Privacy settings

Decide which cookies you want to allow. You can change these settings at any time. However, this can result in some functions no longer being available. For information on deleting the cookies, please consult your browser’s help function. Learn more about the cookies we use.

With the slider, you can enable or disable different types of cookies:

  • Block all
  • Essential
  • Functionality
  • Analytics
  • Advertising

This website will:

  • Essential: Remember your cookie permission setting
  • Essential: Allow session cookies
  • Essential: Gather information you input into a contact forms, newsletter and other forms across all pages
  • Essential: Keep track of what you input in a shopping cart
  • Essential: Authenticate that you are logged into your user account
  • Essential: Remember language version you selected

This website won't:

  • Remember your login details
  • Functionality: Remember social media settings
  • Functionality: Remember selected region and country
  • Analytics: Keep track of your visited pages and interaction taken
  • Analytics: Keep track about your location and region based on your IP number
  • Analytics: Keep track of the time spent on each page
  • Analytics: Increase the data quality of the statistics functions
  • Advertising: Tailor information and advertising to your interests based on e.g. the content you have visited before. (Currently we do not use targeting or targeting cookies.
  • Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location

This website will:

  • Essential: Remember your cookie permission setting
  • Essential: Allow session cookies
  • Essential: Gather information you input into a contact forms, newsletter and other forms across all pages
  • Essential: Keep track of what you input in a shopping cart
  • Essential: Authenticate that you are logged into your user account
  • Essential: Remember language version you selected
  • Functionality: Remember social media settings
  • Functionality: Remember selected region and country

This website won't:

  • Remember your login details
  • Analytics: Keep track of your visited pages and interaction taken
  • Analytics: Keep track about your location and region based on your IP number
  • Analytics: Keep track of the time spent on each page
  • Analytics: Increase the data quality of the statistics functions
  • Advertising: Tailor information and advertising to your interests based on e.g. the content you have visited before. (Currently we do not use targeting or targeting cookies.
  • Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location

This website will:

  • Essential: Remember your cookie permission setting
  • Essential: Allow session cookies
  • Essential: Gather information you input into a contact forms, newsletter and other forms across all pages
  • Essential: Keep track of what you input in a shopping cart
  • Essential: Authenticate that you are logged into your user account
  • Essential: Remember language version you selected
  • Functionality: Remember social media settingsl Functionality: Remember selected region and country
  • Analytics: Keep track of your visited pages and interaction taken
  • Analytics: Keep track about your location and region based on your IP number
  • Analytics: Keep track of the time spent on each page
  • Analytics: Increase the data quality of the statistics functions

This website won't:

  • Remember your login details
  • Advertising: Use information for tailored advertising with third parties
  • Advertising: Allow you to connect to social sites
  • Advertising: Identify device you are using
  • Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location

This website will:

  • Essential: Remember your cookie permission setting
  • Essential: Allow session cookies
  • Essential: Gather information you input into a contact forms, newsletter and other forms across all pages
  • Essential: Keep track of what you input in a shopping cart
  • Essential: Authenticate that you are logged into your user account
  • Essential: Remember language version you selected
  • Functionality: Remember social media settingsl Functionality: Remember selected region and country
  • Analytics: Keep track of your visited pages and interaction taken
  • Analytics: Keep track about your location and region based on your IP number
  • Analytics: Keep track of the time spent on each page
  • Analytics: Increase the data quality of the statistics functions
  • Advertising: Use information for tailored advertising with third parties
  • Advertising: Allow you to connect to social sitesl Advertising: Identify device you are using
  • Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location

This website won't:

  • Remember your login details
Save & Close