Straight Line Was A Lie: Their Most Personal Album Yet
Today marks the release of Straight Line Was A Lie, the fourth studio album by New Zealand indie rock band The Beths.
Out now via ANTI- Records, the album arrives three years after their acclaimed Expert in a Dying Field album and signals a significant creative evolution for the band.
Frontwoman Elizabeth Stokes describes the album’s title as a reflection on the illusion of linear progress in life, a theme that permeates the record’s introspective lyrics and dynamic sound.
The album was written in Los Angeles and recorded in Auckland, showcasing the band’s growth and willingness to explore new creative territories.
The lead single ‘No Joy’, delves into Stokes’s personal experience with anhedonia during her treatment with SSRIs.
The song’s candid exploration of emotional numbness is paired with a punchy, emotionally charged sound that sets the tone for the album’s themes of personal growth and emotional complexity.
‘Mother Pray For Me’ is a stripped down rendition of the complexities of emotion that surround parental relationships.
With plaintive guitar and Stokes’ childlike wistful vocals, the song reflects on Stokes’ parents lives, mortality and how to see them as people who tried their best, even when it didn’t feel like enough.
“I cried the whole time writing it”, she admits. “Its not really about my mother, it’s about me – what I hope our relationship is, what it maybe actually is and what I can or can’t expect out of it.”
For Straight Line Was A Lie, Stokes and Pearce dismantled the usual Beths writing routine, opening up to new creative input and embracing a therapeutic, free-flowing approach to songwriting.
It emerges as the most insightful, truthful and poetic Beth’s project yet, blending personal introspection with universal resonance.
It’s a true testament to the power of reflection, reinvention and emotional honesty in music.
