The music video for the album’s lead single, ‘Where’s My Phone?’ illustrates the narrative of the album: an aloof woman tends to a disheveled home while various motley strangers force their way inside. Directed by Noel Paul, the video hits on the larger themes of the album: isolation, interpersonal fragility and a grave, impending doom.

The music video for ‘If I Leave’ depicts the singer and her band in another dilapidated house as they stare vacantly away from the camera, haunting the halls. The video, directed by Jared Hogan and released with the album, uses imagery classically aligned with horror films: a crack of lightning, the menacing silhouette of a child, rocking chairs moving on their own and peeling wallpaper. Watch the ‘If I Leave’ video below.

‘Nothing is About to Happen to Me’ took literary inspiration from Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House, both stories of disturbances and perversions of domesticity. NME theorizes the album’s ‘[yearn] for disconnection’  is a ‘reckoning with the reality of her raised profile.’ This references the singer’s explosion into the spotlight with 2023’s ‘The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We.’

Mitski achieved runaway success with ‘My Love All Mine’ from the 2023 album. The song caught virality on TikTok and catapulted the singer to her first Billboard Hot 100 entry. Pitchfork reports there were over 2.5 million videos soundtracked by the song.

Mitski bears little connection to the 70s soft rock, tranquil Americana which enchanted millions on ‘The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We.’ NME states, ‘Nothing is About to Happen to Me’ ‘is, without question, the most musically ambitious album of her career.’ The singer’s latest release is laden with hammering guitar breakdowns and the bludgeoning of punk-inspired drums. Tinny, screaming vocals and a rapid heartbeat drum can be heard on ‘The White Cat,’ as its lyrics depict the narrator’s frustration that the neighborhood cat has claimed her home as their own. Pitchfork calls the music ‘skilfully marshalled: sober and lucid even while hallucinogenic and deranged.’

The album was recorded Sunset Sound and TTG Studios in Los Angeles and features live in-the-room instrumentation from the touring band of ‘The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We.’ Patrick Hyland, longtime collaborator of Mitski, joins her again as producer, and Bob Weston is credited with mastering. Mitski is credited with writing all songs on the album as well as recording all vocals.

Mitski will present ‘Nothing is About to Happen to Me’ in select cities, with residencies few major cities. She will spend six nights at the Shed in New York City, five nights at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles and four nights at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. Other cities featured on the tour are Bangkok, Jakarta, Mexico City, Paris, Brussels, Manila and more.

As for UK shows, Mitski will appear in Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol and Kingston this May. She will finish her UK run with a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. More information on her upcoming tour can be found here.

Mitski’s ‘Nothing’s About To Happen To Me’ Tracklist:

1. In a Lake

2. Where’s My Phone

3. Cats

4. If I Leave

5. Dead Woman

6. Instead of Here

7. I’ll Change for You

8. Rules

9. That White Cat

10. Charon’s Obol

11. Lightning

‘Nothing’s About To Happen To Me’  UK Tour Dates

11/05 – Barrowland Ballroom – Glasgow, Scotland

13/05 – Birmingham Town Hall – Birmingham, England

14/05 – Project House – Leeds, England

15/05 – New Century – Manchester, England

17/05 – Electric Bristol – Bristol, England

18/05 – Circuit – Kingston, England

21/05 – Royal Albert Town Hall – London, England

The new track arrives alongside an intense, surreal music video directed by Noel Paul, expanding on the album’s narrative about a reclusive woman living in an unkempt house. In the clip, Mitski moves through and around a large, old home, fetching water from a well, circling its rooms and grounds, and reacting as townspeople begin to invade her space, underscoring the project’s themes of isolation, scrutiny and fragile interior freedom. The video draws inspiration from Shirley Jackson’s novels, including We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House, and has been compared to the unsettling domestic decay of Grey Gardens.

Musically, ‘Where’s My Phone?’ pushes Mitski into more frenetic territory, pairing fuzzy guitars and live drums with orchestrated strings to create an anxious, driving indie rock sound. The song was written by Mitski and produced and engineered by longtime collaborator Patrick Hyland, with mastering by Bob Weston. It features contributions from her touring band and an ensemble of string players, with arranger and conductor Drew Erickson overseeing orchestral parts recorded at storied studios Sunset Sound and TTG.

Lyrically, the single circles around the repeated plea “Where did it go / Where’s my phone?”, using the lost device as a focal point for spiralling thoughts and a desire for mental emptiness. Across the song, Mitski sings about wanting her mind to be “a clear glass” with nothing inside, reflecting the album’s wider exploration of a character who feels deviant in public but free within her own chaotic domestic world. The track’s jittery rhythm and escalating arrangement mirror that psychological tension, hinting at a record that will balance narrative concept with emotional immediacy.

‘Nothing’s About to Happen to Me’ is described as a concept-driven album built around a “rich narrative” centred on that reclusive protagonist, whose messy home becomes both sanctuary and stage. Mitski wrote all of the songs and performs all vocals on the album, which leans heavily on live instrumentation and ensemble arrangements, continuing the organic, band-forward approach of her recent work while pushing into more theatrical territory. Early reactions from critics have highlighted ‘Where’s My Phone?’ as an anxiety-inducing but compelling lead single that sets a feverish tone for the full album release next month.

However the 10 day festival announced some exciting news for fans as they expanded the line up for both the Saturday and Sunday events. The new line-up includes big names old and new including, Suki Waterhouse who has filled our screens big and small over the past year with her role in Daisy Jones and the Six as well as her indie-pop ballads. The singer and actress also welcomed a baby with long term boyfriend Robert Pattinson in March so fans will be thrilled to see her back on the stage. She will be joined by bands such as The Kills, Joy (Anonymous) and Men I Trust.

see you @allpointseastukhttps://t.co/mD9LPjG3t1 pic.twitter.com/q6ttvRdt5c

— Suki Waterhouse (@sukiwaterhouse) May 25, 2024

Alongside them is new kid on the block, Dan Whiltlam who released his debut album Own Mind on May 3rd. Whiltlan is a singer, songwriter, actor and poet who blends palpitating beats reminiscent of rap with the love, loss and sincerity of spoken word. Through his genre bending sound, he hopes to popularise the art and get people talking about the ‘day-to-day issues going on now’ as he told NME earlier this month. Alongside these new additions the festival will host already confirmed sets from artists like the rising Mid-Western indie star, Ethel Cain, who combines nostalgic rock and folk sounds with Southern Gothic themes influenced by the music she was surrounded by throughout her upbringing in her Baptist family in the south. The Tallahasee born singer is genre-bending with her synthesis of hymn-like gospel harmonies, country twangs, classic rock and the more modern euphonies of contemporary bedroom pop. She even incorporates heavy metal sounds into some of her more experimental work which creates a unique disparity from the melancholy, softer sounds found throughout her discography. Cain will perform alongside Mitski, TV Girl and Bebadoobe as well as newly announced acts and others. You can see the full line up for Sunday the 18th of August below as well as a comprehensive list of all acts and events across all festival dates by following the link here.

 

 

 

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Besides the two weekends filled with musical brilliance, the festival will also be hosting a jam-packed mid-week activities program called ‘In the Neigbourhood’ which will provide an array of street food, arts and crafts, live entertainment and sports all for free. You can find more details on the array of things to do during the ten days here as well as check out tickets for individual days of the full event by following the link here.

Mitski has been playing acoustic shows across North America, United Kingdom and Europe to support the album already. However, this upcoming tour will incorporate a full band, closer resembling the lush and layered studio recordings found on the album.

The venues chosen are exclusively seated venues as described by Mitski herself as she said: “All of these are seated venues, and some of the best seats are reserved for the fan presale.” The choice of venue reflects the laid-back sonic aesthetic of the new album especially in comparison to previous works like Puberty 2 in 2016.

Mitski is going on tour next year with her full band across Europe with multi-night stops in the UK, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Richard Dawson, Miya Folick, and Iceage will be opening up. Fan presale tickets are available starting at 10AM local time tomorrow, October 18th pic.twitter.com/otRylOx53I

— mitski (@mitskileaks) October 17, 2023

The tour starts on April 27^th of next year in Edinburgh, for two nights at Usher Hall, before heading into Manchester’s 02 Apollo for two nights on May 1^st and 2^nd and then Dublin’s 3Arena on May 4th. Mitski then heads into Wolverhampton at The Civic At The Halls on May 6^th, before heading to the Eventim Apollo in London on the 8^th-10^th of May. Mitski then ventures into mainland Europe on May 14^th, playing the Cirque Royal in Brussels, then heading into France, Netherlands, Germany before rounding out the whole portion of the tour playing Theatre 11 in Zurich.

Support for the UK dates will be provided by Newcastle-based folk artist, Richard Dawson, who has released acclaimed albums such as 2020 and Peasant and Miya Follick for the shows in London and Wolverhampton.

Talking about the new album, Mitski has called it her most American, as she said: “I’m always trying to figure out what it means to be American. But especially with this album, I think I’m trying to reconcile all my various identities with being American today. I feel like I’ve always been seeing my own identities through the eyes of other people who haven’t lived my identities. And I kind of think maybe that’s also very uniquely American. I’m Asian American. I’m half white, half Asian. And so I don’t really fit into either community very well. I am another in America, even though I am American.”

Tickets for Mitski’s upcoming 17-date run will be available on general sale on Friday 20^th October at 10am. Tickets can be found and purchased here.

Tour Dates

27/04/2024 – Usher Hall – Edinburgh, United Kingdom
28/04 – Usher Hall – Edinburgh, United Kingdom
01/05 – 02 Apollo – Manchester, United Kingdom
02/05 – 02 Apollo – Manchester, United Kingdom
04/05 – 3Arena – Dublin, Republic of Ireland
06/05 – The Civic At The Halls – Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
08/05 – Eventim Apollo – London, United Kingdom
09/05 – Eventim Apollo – London, United Kingdom
14/05 – Cirque Royal – Brussels, Belgium
17/05 – Le Grand Rex – Paris, France
20/05 – Royal Theatre Carre – Amsterdam, Netherlands
21/05 – Royal Theatre Carre – Amsterdam, Netherlands
24/05 – Tempodrom – Berlin, Germany
25/05 – Tempodrom – Berlin, Germany
28/05 – Jahrhunderthalle – Frankfurt, Germany

Music video director Maegan Houang said of the content of the music video, according to a press release: “This video is heavily inspired by Romanticism and paintings and artwork from the Victorian era. Like the lyrics of the song ‘Stay Soft,’ paintings from that era have a gentle quality, but they still evoke a certain feeling of unexplored darkness and danger. I want the audience to feel safe within this fabricated world and then realize that the character Mitski plays is being hunted. The violence lurking beneath the surface emerges, and yet is still transformed into something beautiful via dance. Through the dance sequence, Mitski’s character is able to conquer the violence, but not without irreparable harm to her psyche.”

Mitski herself offered great detail in regard to the writing process and themes of the song, saying, again according to a press release: “‘Stay Soft’ was a more straightforward rock song when I wrote it on guitar, but the darkly sexual lyrics sung in that context felt too heavy and melodramatic. So we couched the depressing lyrics in an inviting dance beat, which is a trick people have used for hundreds of years. The remnants of the original grungy feeling can be heard starting at the instrumental interlude, when the distorted guitar comes in…This song, frankly, is about hurt people finding each other, and using sex to make sense of their pain. This is by no means the correct way to cope with trauma, but it’s a thing people do regardless, and I always want to write songs about what we actually do, so that we don’t feel alone in them.”

Laurel Hell is the singer-songwriter’s seventh album, following on from 2018’s Be The Cowboy. The record was highly anticipated, especially given that in 2019, Mitski announced an indefinite hiatus that seemed at the time to be her final farewell when it came to making music. Thankfully, this was not to be, and she announced that she had changed her mind in early 2020, and that she would indeed be returning to music. You can stream and purchase the new record at this link. 

Mitski will be embarking on a North American tour, as well as European and UK tour later this month. Unfortunately for fans just catching wind of this now, both her North American dates and EU/UK dates are completely sold out. In the event that extra tickets do crop up, more information can be found here.

Speaking of the lyrics from the new track, Mitski mentions that while some of “Love Me More”‘s lyrics were written pre-Covid, their meaning has taken a new form since the pandemic: “As ‘Love Me More’ was written pre-pandemic, lyrics like ‘If I keep myself at home’ had different meanings than what they would now, but I kept them on the album because I found that some of the sentiments not only remained the same, but were accentuated by the lockdown.”

The new video for “Love Me More” is, frankly, a strange yet beautiful one. The attention to set design is impeccable, the symbolism from her imagery is maniacally wonderful, and the 80s pulse drives the video with an urgent energy. The vibe is contagious, thus a perfect teaser for the new album.

Laurel Hell is served alongside a gargantuan North America and Europe tour, hitting a massive 55 dates with all but 3 sold out. See the tour dates below:

17/02  – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel – SOLD OUT
18/02  – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz – SOLD OUT
19/02  – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern – SOLD OUT
21/02  – Birmingham, AL @ Iron City – SOLD OUT
22/02  – New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre – SOLD OUT
24/02  – Houston, TX @ The Lawn at White Oak Music Hall – SOLD OUT
25/02  – Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum – SOLD OUT
26/02  – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater – SOLD OUT
28/02  – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren – SOLD OUT
02/03  – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Exposition Hall – SOLD OUT
03/03  – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Exposition Hall – SOLD OUT
04/03  – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater – SOLD OUT
05/03  – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater – SOLD OUT
07/03  – Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall – SOLD OUT
09/03  – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre – SOLD OUT
10/03  – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre – SOLD OUT
12/03  – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom – SOLD OUT
14/03  – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre – SOLD OUT
15/03  – Milwaukee, WI @ Miller High Life Theatre – SOLD OUT
17/03  – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple Theatre – SOLD OUT
18/03  – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall – SOLD OUT
19/03  – Montreal, QC @ St-Jean-Baptiste Church – SOLD OUT
21/03  – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner – SOLD OUT
22/03  – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner – SOLD OUT
24/03  – New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall – SOLD OUT
25/03  – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall – SOLD OUT
26/03  – Washington, DC @ The Anthem – SOLD OUT
27/03  – Washington, DC @ The Anthem – SOLD OUT
29/03  – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE – SOLD OUT
30/03  – Louisville, KY @ Old Forester’s Paristown Hall – SOLD OUT
31/03  – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium – SOLD OUT
21/04  – Bristol, UK @ Marble Factory – SOLD OUT
22/04  – Leeds, UK @ University Union Refectory – SOLD OUT
23/04  – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom – SOLD OUT
25/04  – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street – SOLD OUT
26/04  – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Academy – SOLD OUT
28/04  – London, UK @ The Roundhouse – SOLD OUT
29/04 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton – SOLD OUT
30/04  – Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique Festival – SOLD OUT
02/05 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix – SOLD OUT
03/05  – Paris, FR @ L’Olympia – SOLD OUT
04/05  – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso – SOLD OUT
06/05,  – Zurich, CH @ Kaufleuten
07/05  – Lausanne, CH @ Les Docks SOLD OUT
09/05  – Berlin, DE @ Metropol – SOLD OUT
10/05  – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega – SOLD OUT
11/05  – Stockholm, SE @ Fållan SOLD OUT
12/05  – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene SOLD OUT
14/05  – Hamburg, DE @ Fabrik – SOLD OUT
15/05  – Cologne, DE @ Carlswerk Victoria – SOLD OUT
17/05  – Vienna, AT @ WUK – SOLD OUT
18/05  – Prague, CZ @ Archa Theatre – SOLD OUT
19/05  – Munich, DE @ Strom – SOLD OUT
02/07  – Stockholm, SE @ Lollapalooza Stockholm
16/09 – 18/09  – Los Angeles, CA @ Primavera Sound LA

See the artwork for Laurel Hell below:

“Heat Lightning” is out now. https://t.co/9qrpD5lCiX pic.twitter.com/Nw9mIIkzuK

— mitski (@mitskileaks) December 7, 2021

The 31-year-old singer’s new single has also been released with an accompanying lyrical video created by Alex Moy. The music video features retro-Esque graphics which perfectly match the track’s dreamy 80’s aesthetic. The track opens with soft percussion and gentle guitar lines which progress to a crescendo after the initial chorus. The lyrical content is perfectly aligned with the dreamy synthesiser filled musical world created by Mitski.

Within the press release, Mitski has given the following statement, the singer described how she “needed songs that could help me forgive both others and myself…I needed to create this space mostly for myself where I sat in that gray area.” Much like the album’s remaining tracklist, “Heat Lightning” was written on piano and was transformed into an atmospherical ode to the “sleeping eyelid of the sky.”

Laurel Hell is the singer’s first full release since her fifth studio album Be the Cowboy. The album was released in 2018 through Dead Oceans and was received with great critical success. “Heat Lightning” is the third single to be released from the singer’s upcoming album. The album’s first single “Working For The Knife” was released on 5th October 2021 via Dead Oceans. The single’s release marked the singer’s first major release since her hiatus. The album’s second single “The Only Heartbreaker” was released on 9th November 2021 and was also released with an artistic music video.

The press release gives the following description for Laurel Hell, “Laurel Hell is a soundtrack for transformation, a map to the place where vulnerability and resilience, sorrow and delight, error and transcendence can all sit within our humanity, can all be seen as worthy of acknowledgment, and ultimately, love. It cements Mitski’s reputation as an artist who possesses the power of turning our most savage and alienated experiences into the very elixir that cures them. “I wrote what I needed to hear. As I’ve always done.”

The release date of Mitski’s new album was announced last month ahead of her upcoming sold-out tour. The album was written before and during 2018 but was finished and mixed in May 2021 whilst the world experienced difficult and uncertain times. The record’s process marks the longest period in which Mitski has spent on a release. The upcoming album sees the singer work with long term collaborator Patrick Hyland, who has worked with Mitski since her 2014 album Bury Me At Makeout Creek. The duo aimed for the album to “to be more uptempo and dance-y. I needed to create something that was also a pep talk.”

After the release of Laurel Hell, Mitski will hit the road to begin her sold-out tour. The worldwide tour kicks off with a performance in North Carolina on 17th February 2022, after 33 dates the singer concludes her American leg with a set in Nashville on 31st March 2022. On April 21st 2022 the singer will embark on the UK leg of her tour with a performance in Bristol and will conclude her UK dates with a performance at London’s Brixton Academy on 29th April 2022. Mitski will then perform at a string of European cities before the tour’s final show in Los Angeles.

Mitski UK tour dates

21/04/2022 – Marble Factory – Bristol
22/04 – University Union Refectory – Leeds
23/04 – Barrowland Ballroom – Glasgow
25/04 – Vicar Street – Dublin
26/04 – Manchester Academy – Manchester
28/04 – The Roundhouse – London
29/04 – O2 Academy Brixton – London

Click here to pre-order Laurel Hell.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz

Speculation around the follow-up to 2017’s ‘This Old Dog‘ began when pictures of posters that contained details of the new album and its release date were found on Reddit. DeMarco later confirmed the release of his new album on his website. He has also released a new spaced out single taken from the album called ‘Nobody‘. The lead single also came with a memorable new music video, which sees Mac in heavy lizard makeup and a cowboy hat while singing the song.

Mac has said this to say of the new album on his website, “This one is my cowboy record. Cowboy is a term of endearment to me, I use it often when referring to people in my life. The rusty old grinning pin on the front and back covers of the record was purchased from a man in the mountains somewhere in the Nantahala National Forest between Chattanooga, TN and Asheville, NC. Where I grew up there are many people that sincerely wear cowboy hats and do cowboy activities, these aren’t the people I’m referring to. Before realizing that your surroundings don’t necessarily define who you are, I felt very uncomfortable in the company of that culture.”

This reveal came soon after Mac announced his own one-day festival that would be taking place at the Dreamland theme park in Margate, Kent. DeMarco is the headlining act of ‘Mac DeMarco… will see you now‘ and will also be curating the yet unreleased line-up of the event. The event is in partnership with London promoters Bird On The Wire, with whom DeMarco has collaborated many times. Fans are promised, “a day of music and rides”, in the English seaside town. This is not DeMarco’s only UK show in 2019 though, as he is also booked to play at All Points East festival on Sunday, June 2nd in east London.

Mac has drawn criticism from fans of singer-songwriter Mitski as his new album sounds similar to Mitski’s most recent release ‘Be The Cowboy‘ in 2018. ‘Nobody‘ is also a name of one of Mitski’s singles, which has drawn further criticism from fans. However, in response to the criticism, Mitski herself had this to say on Twitter, “haha! I’m 100% sure mac & I just went fishing in the same part of the collective unconscious! What’s wild is we have the same PR, so I LOVE my personal conspiracy theory that she heard the album+track titles but kept quiet thinking maybe some Mac fans will mistakenly find me loll. Anyway thanks for the laugh, Mac! Happy release!”.

Tickets for Mac’s Margate gig can be purchased here this Friday.