From The Beatles to The Byrds, jangly guitars have long carried the weight of complex human emotions. One of the latest torchbearers for the good old arpeggio is New Zealand’s The Beths, returning with their fourth studio album, Straight Line Was a Line. Their debut for ANTI- Records and first release since the year-end-list-topping 2022 LP Expert in a Dying Field, its 10 tracks see lead singer and songwriter Elizabeth Stokes tackle the myth of linear progression in life. As she puts it, “What life really is is maintenance and finding meaning in the maintenance.”
This permission to just be sparks another blast of confident, joyous, and lyrically-rich songs. For an album wrestling with mental health, anxiety, and the constant nagging desire for change, it’s one of the most melodically lush records I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing this year.
It kicks off with the fuzzed-out title track—think Los Campesinos! by way of Auckland—where Stokes channels the frustration of going in circles. A cry for help wrapped in layers of harmonizing vocals and crashing cymbals, it’s an energetic opener with surprising depth that sets the tone perfectly.
“No Joy” finds the band channeling The Breeders as Stokes explores the numbness that can come with SSRIs. It’s a catchy-as-hell bop that takes on the ups and downs—or in this case, the lack thereof—of antidepressants. Sure, they can help you get through the day. But as an artist, how do you adapt and create when the big emotions no longer hit the way they used to? It’s a clever framing of an all-too-common modern dilemma, dressed up in sweet hooks and crunchy chords.
Elsewhere, the band strips things back for maximum impact. On the tear-jerking “Mother, Pray for Me,” Stokes, backed only by finger-picked guitar and organ, reckons with her relationship with her parents and the shift from seeing them as carers to recognizing them as mortal, fully fledged people. It’s the album’s most beautiful moment, delivered without unnecessary adornment. The themes land hard enough on their own, and the restraint makes the song resonate even deeper.
It’s not all existential crises, though. On “Metal,” a song that draws from Stokes’ dual diagnoses of Graves’ and Thyroid Eye Disease, the band delivers one of the finest tracks of their career. A shimmering, jangly wonder in the same mold as The Cure at their most delirious, The Beths once again sweeten the pill with a heavy dose of sugar. It’s unapologetically gorgeous and swooning, the kind of song that can’t help but slap a smile on your face.
The Beths clearly had a lot to take stock of in recent years, but they return wiser, bolder, and more prepared for the next chapter. With Straight Line Was a Line, they’ve produced another sharp indie-pop record, this time with an emotional weight and maturity that makes it arguably their finest album so far. Stokes has always been applauded for her lyrics, and rightly so. But there’s a new directness and rawness that comes only from bravely confronting your own issues and daring to write about them.
For lovers of happy-sad tunes, The Beths may well have just delivered your favorite album of the year—a record that sparkles with melody while quietly breaking your heart.