Forgiveness is uneasy ground to tread. How do we forgive without giving the transgressor a pass? Perhaps we’ll manage to convince ourselves that the purpose in forgiving is for self-preservation and we really aren’t co-signing what happened to us. But why is it always more difficult to forgive ourselves?
Mitski ponders this invariable question on her forthcoming album, Laurel Hell. “I needed songs that could help me forgive both others and myself,” she confessed. “I needed to create this space mostly for myself where I sat in that gray area.”
Yesterday, Mitski unearthed the album’s spellbinding third single, “Heat Lightning,” which was preceded by the equally arresting “Working for the Knife” and “The Only Heartbreaker.”
“Heat Lightning” is a blossoming rumination on guilt-induced insomnia. “And there’s nothing I can do / Not much I can change / Can I give it up to you / Would that be okay?” she muses over pulsing synths, orchestral string swells, and dynamic reverb-drenched piano melodies. The song closely echoes the Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs” with its screeching guitar parts and Moe Tucker-like drum arrangements.
When asked what her intentions were on her upcoming album, Mitski answered, “I wrote what I needed to hear, as I’ve always done.” And the unrestrained urgency on “Heat Lightning” only further cements her uncanny ability to transform affliction into exaltation.
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