Just over a year after her latest studio album “Laurel Hell,” Mitski has returned with new music. On Wednesday, the beloved and hermetic indie rocker released the acoustic ballad “Bug Like an Angel,” which serves as the lead single to her upcoming album “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We,” out Sept. 15 via Dead Oceans.
Mitski first teased the new album, recorded at both Bomb Shelter Studios in East Nashville and Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles, in her newsletter on Sunday.
In the music video for “Bug Like an Angel,” directed by Noel Paul, a woman staggers and collapses outside of a bar until she is welcomed by a choir featuring a guitar-wielding Mitski. Eventually, the woman rejects their embrace, setting off on her own once again.
It’s a metaphor explored on “The Land,” which, according to a press release, is about the disruptive, difficult and revolutionary power of love.
“This land, which already feels inhospitable to so many of its inhabitants, is about to feel hopelessly torn and tossed again — at times, devoid of love. This album offers the anodyne,” reads the presser. Mitski herself adds: “This is my most American album.”
“The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We” features an orchestra arranged and conducted and by Drew Erickson, as well as a 17-person choir arranged by Mitski.
Produced by Mitski’s longtime collaborator Patrick Hyland, the album cites influences ranging from “Ennio Morriconeʼs bombastic Spaghetti Western scores to Carter Burwellʼs tundra-filling Fargo soundtrack, from the breathy intimacy of Arthur Russell to the strident aliveness of Scott Walker or Igor Stravinsky, from the jubilation of Caetano Veloso to the twangy longing of Faron Young.”
Watch the video for “Bug Like an Angel” below.
