Mitski announces her new album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, out September 15th on Dead Oceans, and presents its lead single, “Bug Like an Angel.”

Mitski wrote these songs in little bursts over the past few years. The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We was recorded at both the Bomb Shelter in East Nashville and Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles, and incorporates an orchestra arranged and conducted by Drew Erickson, as well as a full choir of 17 people — 12 in Los Angeles and 5 in Nashville — arranged by Mitski. For the first time, it felt important to Mitski to have a band recording live together in the studio. Working with her longtime producer Patrick Hyland, the album has a wide-range of references, from Ennio Morricone’s bombastic Spaghetti Western scores to Carter Burwell’s tundra-filling Fargo soundtrack, from the breathy intimacy of Arthur Russell to the strident aliveness of Scott Walker or Igor Stravinsky, from the jubilation of Caetano Veloso to the twangy longing of Faron Young.

The accompanying “Bug Like an Angel” video — directed by Noel Paul — explores community and an unflinching look at self-destruction so extreme it verges on a state of dance. The song’s narrator is depicted as a woman staggering and collapsing outside of a bar, welcomed by and ultimately rejecting the gentle embrace of a choir of which Mitski is a member.

Sometimes, Mitski says, it feels like life would be easier without hope, or a soul, or love. But when she closes her eyes and thinks about what’s truly hers, what can’t be repossessed or demolished, she sees love. “The best thing I ever did in my life was to love people,” Mitski says. “I wish I could leave behind all the love I have, after I die, so that I can shine all this goodness, all this good love that I’ve created onto other people.” She hopes The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We will continue to shine that love long after she’s gone.

Mitski
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Tracklist
Dead Oceans

1. Bug Like an Angel
2. Buffalo Replaced
3. Heaven
4. I Don’t Like My Mind
5. The Deal
6. When Memories Snow
7. My Love Mine All Mine
8. The Frost
9. Star
10. I’m Your Man
11. I Love Me After You

Pre-order The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We by Mitski HERE