A terrific new single welcomes you to Mitski’s goth cowboy era
After a two-year hiatus, Mitski's back with the electro-industrial track, "Working For The Knife"
Music Features Mitski
Mitski may have been on a semi-hiatus, but her presence was still strongly felt in the past year. “Nobody,” her disco-tinged single off the 2018 record Be The Cowboy, became an unexpected anthem for 2020: What better way to encapsulate the immense solitude of quarantine than a song that references being so isolated and feeling so lonely, you have to open the windows just to hear the sounds of people? Save your pity; Mitski just wanted human touch so she can feel alright.
We’re now at the (hopefully) tail-end of mass isolation, still processing that solitude and grief, rebuilding ourselves as we pick up the shattered pieces of what helped us feel whole in the before times. So it seems only fitting to allow ourselves to be ushered into the unknown by having Mitski once again voice our emotions for us. The musician marks her return with new single “Working For The Knife,” and with no album announcement yet, it’s a preview of what’s to come in her next era.
It’s often joked that Mitski has the capability of making fans shed tears on command with her music, both through her heavily emotional lyrics and her lushly orchestrated melodies. But in “Working For The Knife,” we’re introduced to a darker side to Mitski that’s not meant to set off waterworks. This Mitski doesn’t want you to weep; she wants you to listen.
Mitski often uses synths to heighten emotion in her music, but this time she goes full electro-industrial, while addressing her brief hiatus:
I always knew the world moves on / I just didn’t know it would go without me / I start the day high and it ends so low / ’Cause I’m working for the knife / I used to think I’d be done by 20 / Now at 29 the road ahead appears the same / Though maybe at 30 I’ll see a way to change / That I’m living for the knife.
Its words are simpler than many of her lyrical gut-punches from throughout the years, but tell so much. It’s a story about longing for success, but then realizing you might not even know what that looks like, anymore. As Mitski herself explains in the liner notes, “It’s about going from being a kid with a dream, to a grown up with a job, and feeling that somewhere along the way you got left behind. It’s being confronted with a world that doesn’t seem to recognize your humanity, and seeing no way out of it.”
Mitski’s not trying to sugarcoat things, lyrically or melodically. While the Mitski on Be The Cowboy seemingly desired control and power, this one’s worn out just fighting for a chance to create art without having to meet people’s expectations. She’s dejected, yet strong. Taking on a more industrial sound feels apt; it’s not a celebratory tune like “Nobody,” nor is it a heartbreak anthem like many of her most popular tracks. Instead, this harsher musicality is used to convey the heaviness of her words.
Music videos don’t carry the same weight they used to, but Mitski’s a visual artist as well as a musical one. She began introducing experimental dance to her performances in 2018, and she uses those moments to convey her emotions in the “Working For The Knife” video. She plays up making viewers uncomfortable, as she licks the railing of a staircase, while also making facial gestures that feel reminiscent of a marionette; with one hand swipe over her face, she puts on a fake smile, ready to entertain. But in the next scene, Mitski acts out her death, pretending to slice her neck. Bathing in the shower of applause, she then erratically jumps around to the sound of her own thuds, finally collapsing.
Mitski’s still set on presenting herself as the cowboy (albeit a “goth cowboy” of sorts, this time) and it’s fitting imagery. Cowboys have seen it all. They’re admired for their grit; they’re intimidating and solitary. But there’s something solemn about being a lone ranger, traversing throughout the land without stability. It’s an apt metaphor for Mitski’s career, and she’s a step closer to revealing where the journey takes her next.
19 Comments
I’m gonna take a guess and go ahead and assume the writer is something of a Mitski fan.
Honestly Tatiana’s North Brooklyn Culture Blog articles are the best part of late KinjaAV Club
This, as the kids say, slaps. Reminds me of Insight by Depeche Mode. I saw Mitski open up for the Pixies a few years back and continue to be very impressed with her.
Damn this was good. I really love how her songs get in and get out. They’re incredibly lush, but they often take me a few listens to get into simply because they’re also economical. I saw Mitski years ago, before Puberty 2, and she was the first opening act, the absolute bottom of the bill. It’s crazy that she’s so much more popular than any other musician I saw that night.
This was awesome! Totally different from her other material, yet it instantly sounds like her.
It continues to be weird to me that all these Mitski articles assume I am intimately familiar with this person, like she’s a household name who of course everyone knows all about.
It continues to be weird to me that people still make comments like this. Not everything is for you.
Look, that’s fine, I totally understand that people will be excited about things that don’t excite me. What I find weird about these Mitski articles is how they are written. I’m not saying Mitski is not worth writing about. I’m saying these articles act like they’re written for a Mitski fan page, not the AV Club. They assume a level of familiarity in their audience that baffles me. I’m not saying don’t write about Mitski. I’m saying this is the AV Club, not some Mitski stan twitter account.
Heck, I’m not even saying Mitski wouldn’t excite me! Maybe she would, maybe I should check out her music. But the tone of these articles that assumes I should already know who she is and be intimately familiar with every minute detail about her isn’t going to reel me in.
Perhaps the articles are for people who know and enjoy Mitski. Do you expect every pop culture site to hold your hand and give you a primer just because you personally aren’t familiar with it? If you don’t know who or what something is, instead of posting another inane “who is this person” comment try going to Google or whichever music streaming app you use. Jesus Christ man.
Are you asking me if I expect an article to be informative? Yes, yes I do. I expect articles to inform me. That’s their purpose. Most articles have a brief sentence or at least a phrase or two introducing the subject of the article with at least a little bit of background on the person being discussed, who they are, etc. rather than just dropping a person right in with “Mitski may have been on hiatus…”I don’t think it’s out of the question to expect an article about Mitski to have a few words of introduction. If I were to Google Mitski, how helpful would that be if everyone wrote articles like this one?I didn’t even say “who is this person”, I said “it’s strange that these articles are written as though everyone is familiar with this person”. There is a difference, one is an inane comment, the other is critiquing the tone of the article.
It was informative. Mitski, clearly a musician, has a new single. If you want more than that go read her wiki page or something.
That vital information isn’t even mentioned until the last sentence of the second paragraph. It’s just written in a way that feels like I’ve been dropped into the middle of something rather than starting at the beginning.
I’m with you. It’s weird and a little obnoxious. That has nothing at all to do with Mitski (who may be awesome) and everything to do with a writing style choice. A writer can assume familiarity with a pretty limited handful of ubiquitous pop culture icons; everyone else should get at least a brief introduction for the uninitiated.
Right? That’s literally all I’m saying.
The article declares a little-heard song an anthem for a universal experience. If you’ve never heard that song, the rest of the article feels like bullshit and a bluff.
Sorry, where’s the “industrial”?!
‘It’s often joked that Mitski has the capability of making fans shed tears on command with her music, both through her heavily emotional lyrics and her lushly orchestrated melodies.’Is it, though?
Yeah, but that new Adele song.
Another classic