Mitski has announced the release of her new single “Heat Lightning”. The single is the most recent track to be taken from her upcoming album Laurel Hell. The singer’s sixth studio album is set to be released on 4th February via Dead Oceans. The singer’s Twitter announced the single’s release to fans.
“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
