Mitski will release her new album, Be the Cowboy, on August 17th via Dead Oceans, and tour North America surrounding its release, including five newly announced August shows. Mitski’s carefully crafted songs have often been portrayed as emotionally raw, overflowing confessionals from a fevered chosen girl, but in Be the Cowboy, Mitski introduces a persona who has been teased but never so fully present until now — a woman in control. She reveals she had in mind “a very controlled icy repressed woman who is starting to unravel. Because women have so little power and showing emotion is seen as weakness, this ‘character’ clings to any amount of control she can get. Still, there is something very primordial in her that is trying to find a way to get out.”
While recording the album with her long-time producer Patrick Hyland, the pair kept returning to “the image of someone alone on a stage, singing solo with a single spotlight trained on them in an otherwise dark room. For most of the tracks, we didn’t layer the vocals with doubles or harmonies, to achieve that campy ‘person singing alone on stage’ atmosphere. We also made the music swell louder than the main vocals and left in vocal errors like when my voice breaks in ‘Nobody,’ right when the band goes quiet, all for a similar effect.”
After sharing Be the Cowboy opener, “Geyser,” in conjunction with the album announcement, Mitski now presents the aforementioned “Nobody” with an accompanying video directed by Christopher Good. “We shot this video over five days in both sides of Kansas City. I’ve never been able to take this much time to shoot a video, so it was wonderful to have the space to get the details right, as well as actually hang out and have fun with everyone involved. This video made me fall unexpectedly in love with Kansas City.” Visit The Cut for a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the video with commentary by Mitski.
Mitski Tour Dates:
(new shows are in bold)
Sat. June 30 – Woodstock, NY @ Colony % – solo
Sun. Aug. 12 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre ^
Mon. Aug. 13 – Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Artspace ^
Tue. Aug. 14 – Portland, ME @ Space Gallery ^
Wed. Aug. 15 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase Lounge ^
Thu. Aug. 16 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts ^
Wed. Sep. 19 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Gorilla *
Thu. Sep. 20 – Glasgow, UK @ Saint Luke’s *
Sat. Sep. 22 – Dublin, IE @ Tivoli Theatre *
Mon. Sep. 24 – Leeds, UK @ Brudnell Social Club *
Thu. Sep. 25 – Bristol, UK @ Trinity Arts Centre *
Wed. Sep. 26 – London, UK @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire *
Fri. Sep. 28 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie *
Sat. Sep. 29 – Antwerp, BE @ TRIX *
Mon. Oct. 1 – Cologne, DE @ Gebäude 9 *
Tue. Oct. 2 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord (Tolhuistuin) *
Thu. Oct. 4 – Berlin, DE @ Musik & Frieden *
Fri. Oct. 5 – Vesterbro, DK @ Vega *
Sat. Oct. 6 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich *
Fri. Oct. 19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer &
Sat. Oct. 20 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues &
Sun. Oct. 21 – Montreal, QC @ L’Astral &
Mon. Oct. 22 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House &
Tue. Oct. 23 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick &
Thu. Oct. 25 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre &
Fri. Oct. 26 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue &
Tue. Oct. 30 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial &
Wed. Oct. 31 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox &
Thu. Nov. 1 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom &
Sat. Nov. 3 – San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre &
Wed. Nov. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern &
Thu. Nov. 8 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom &
Sat. Nov. 10 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s Austin &
Sun. Nov. 11 – Dallas, TX @ Trees &
Tue. Nov. 13 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East &
Wed. Nov. 14 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade: Hell Stage &
Fri. Nov. 16 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club &
Fri. Nov. 30 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
Sat. Dec. 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
% = w/ Caroline Rose
^ = w/ Sidney Gish
* = w/ EERA
& = w/ Jessica Lea Mayfield