Weekend Intermission – Mitski (USA) – Nothing’s About to Happen to Me (album)

Weekend Intermission is our regular feature where we look at an artist or band not from the Nordic countries, just to mix things up a bit.

No further evidence was needed to know Mitski was one of a kind – and of the most special variety. But here it is in the shape of her eighth record ‘Nothing’s About to Happen to Me’. She is creating her own universe, in subtle and dramatic fashion, declining to fit into the norms of modern entertainment. Instead, she is doing things on her own terms, simultaneously blowing everything out of the water, with grace and intrigue in every move she takes.

From the elegant, eloquent and refined to the dramatic and bombastic, even heavy elements of her record, it is never less than devastating in its emotional impact. Mitski feels real, a force to love because she is what we see, whilst only delivering what she wants to.

This is pop music from another planet, in touch with its history better than any other artist making music nowadays. But she also has her finger on the pulse of the modern, as seen on lead single ‘Where’s My Phone?’ That track, not a bad introduction to Mitski v.2026, clearly released for its upbeat and contemporary contemplation, might be one of the weakest tracks on this record. The way ‘If I Leave’ explodes into life and dissipates into more of her elegant verse delivery is breath taking.

When she whispers, you listen in. When she erupts, it’s an incomparable volcanic eruption. You know if you get too close, it’s all going to go off, but you cannot refrain from leaning in, Mitski’s irrepressible pool of music, a thrilling world opening up before us, is simply too much to reject.

‘I’ll Change for You’ brightens the world in ways beyond imagining, a heavenly slice of ballad pop that does indeed launch itself into space before landing silently as if nothing had taken place. The words of the title leaving their mark, nothing sounding quite as if it makes as much sense as when sung by this lady.

More than lullabies for adults, something about her songs feels like the ultimate musical salvation, a woman compelled to sing, to fashion songs that feel like a salve, a suggestion of an alternative existence, a paradise on earth.

Mitski is one of the finest artists – songwriters, singers, creators of music – in the world right now. Here is undeniably further evidence. Over just over half an hour there is more beauty than many manage in a lifetime. If you know Mitski this is nothing new to read, if you have yet to discover this unfathomably talented musician go and do it now. You will never look back!

And there is something about the way this woman operates, not akin to most in the 2020s, that you cannot help but admire, even love. A stand-alone talent and woman whose next move seems to become ever more tantalising to contemplate.

NMC rating: 9/10

Find her on:

Website: https://www.mitski.com/