Mitski Unveils “Heat Lightning”
New Album Laurel Hell Out 4th February on Dead Oceans
UK Tour Sold Out Inc. London’s The Roundhouse & O2 Brixton Academy
Mitski announced Laurel Hell, one of 2022’s most anticipated releases, out 4th February via Dead Oceans. Today, she unveils an arresting new single, “Heat Lightning,” with an animated lyric video created by Alex Moy. For Laurel Hell, Mitski “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.” As with all the songs on Laurel Hell, “Heat Lightning” embodies that space. Initially written on piano before blossoming into a sensual R&B direction halfway through, it’s a hypnotic, melancholy ode to insomnia and the “sleeping eyelid of the sky.” Throughout, Mitski admits, “And there’s nothing I can do // Not much I can change // Can I give it up to you // Would that be okay? // There’s nothing I can do // Not much I can change // I give it up to you // I surrender.”
Heat Lightning is a truly intense journey, innovative and immensely captivating. Amongst this rhythmic and melodic world filled with big tones and sweeping sounds, Mitski offsets the magnitude of those attributes by bringing this emotional texture into focus with the intimate lyrics and softer harmonies. A personal exploration, raw and expressive.
Mitski wrote many of the songs comprising Laurel Hell during or before 2018, and the album was finished being mixed in May 2021. It is the longest span of time Mitski has ever spent on a record, and a process that concluded amid a radically changed world. Once again produced by longtime collaborator Patrick Hyland, the album as a whole evolved “to be more uptempo and dance-y. I needed to create something that was also a pep talk.” As championed in the album’s first two singles “The Only Heartbreaker” and “Working for the Knife,” the tension that emerges between her refined but plaintive lyrics and the effervescent 1980s sound delivers nuanced profundity on a current of contagious dance beats.
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.”
Mitski will be visiting the UK in April for a run of dates that sold out in mere minutes, full list below.
Mitski Tour Dates
17 Feb. 2022 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel – SOLD OUT
18 Feb. 2022 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz – SOLD OUT
19 Feb. 2022 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern – SOLD OUT
21 Feb. 2022 – Birmingham, AL @ Iron City – SOLD OUT
22 Feb. 2022 – New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre – SOLD OUT
24 Feb. 2022 – Houston, TX @ The Lawn at White Oak Music Hall – SOLD OUT
25 Feb. 2022 – Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum – SOLD OUT
26 Feb. 2022 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at Moody Theater – SOLD OUT
28 Feb. 2022 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren – SOLD OUT
2 March 2022 – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Exposition Hall – SOLD OUT
3 March 2022 – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Exposition Hall – SOLD OUT
4 March 2022 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater – SOLD OUT
5 March 2022 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater – SOLD OUT
7 March 2022 – Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall – SOLD OUT
9 March 2022 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre – SOLD OUT
10 March 2022 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre – SOLD OUT
12 March 2022 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom – SOLD OUT
14 March 2022 – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre – SOLD OUT
15 March 2022 – Milwaukee, WI @ Miller High Life Theatre – SOLD OUT
17 March 2022 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple Theatre – SOLD OUT
18 March 2022 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall – SOLD OUT
19 March 2022 – Montreal, QC @ St-Jean-Baptiste Church – SOLD OUT
21 March 2022 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner – SOLD OUT
22 March 2022 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner – SOLD OUT
24 March 2022 – New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall – SOLD OUT
25 March 2022 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall – SOLD OUT
26 March 2022 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem – SOLD OUT
27 March 2022 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem – SOLD OUT
29 March 2022 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE – SOLD OUT
30 March 2022 – Louisville, KY @ Old Forester’s Paristown Hall – SOLD OUT
31 March 2022 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium – SOLD OUT
21 April 2022 – Bristol, UK @ Marble Factory – SOLD OUT
22 April 2022 – Leeds, UK @ University Union Refectory – SOLD OUT
23 April 2022 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom – SOLD OUT
25 April 2022 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street – SOLD OUT
26 April 2022 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Academy – SOLD OUT
28 April 2022 – London, UK @ The Roundhouse – SOLD OUT
29 April 2022 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton – SOLD OUT
30 April 2022 – Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique Festival – SOLD OUT
2 May 2022 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix – SOLD OUT
3 May 2022 – Paris, FR @ L’Olympia
4 May 2022 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso – SOLD OUT
6 May 2022 – Zurich, CH @ Kaufleuten
7 May 2022 – Lausanne, CH @ Les Docks – SOLD OUT
9 May 2022 – Berlin, DE @ Metropol – SOLD OUT
10 May 2022 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega – SOLD OUT
11 May 2022 – Stockholm, SE @ Fållan – SOLD OUT
12 May 2022 – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene – SOLD OUT
14 May 2022 – Hamburg, DE @ Fabrik – SOLD OUT
15 May 2022 – Cologne, DE @ Carlswerk Victoria – SOLD OUT
17 May 2022 – Vienna, AU @ WUK – SOLD OUT
18 May 2022 – Prague, CZ @ Archa Theatre – SOLD OUT
19 May 2022 – Munich, DE @ Strom – SOLD OUT
Sat. July 2, 2022 – Stockholm, SE @ Lollapalooza Stockholm
Fri. Sep 16 – 18, 2022: Los Angeles, CA @ Primavera Sound LA
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