The Beths have signed to Anti- Records, and, with that announcement comes plenty more news. The New Zealand indie-rockers are heading out on a lengthy tour of North America and Europe, and they’ve shared a video for the new song “Metal.” It’s the first new music the Beths have released since the expanded edition of their 2022 album, “Expert in a Dying Field“.
In a statement, singer-guitarist Elizabeth Stokes said “Metal” is about living in a human body and her personal “health journey” as of late: “For parts of the last few years, I kind of felt like my body was a vehicle that had carried me pretty well thus far but was breaking down, something I had little to no control over. All of the steps in the Rube Goldberg machine of life are so unlikely, and yet here we are in it. I have a hunger and a curiosity for learning about the world around me, and for learning about myself. And despite all the ways that my body feels like a broken machine, I still marvel at the complexity of such a machine.”
She continued: “I can hold that knowledge in one hand, and yet with the other hand I can point to my reflection and just be like ‘you are shit.’ Or ‘ugly.’ Or ‘worthless.’ I can reliably respond to any suggestion that I might be able to achieve any small thing with ‘no.’ And these are variations of the ‘short word’ referenced in the song.”
The Beths are: Elizabeth Stokes, Jonathan Pearce, Benjamin Sinclair, Tristan Deck
The Beths’ tour begins in Dublin, Ireland, on September 18. From there, they’ll perform across Europe and the United Kingdom before heading to North America to perform in dozens of cities in the United States and Canada. Opening select concerts are Phoebe Rings, Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie, Squirrel Flower, and Illuminati Hotties.
The Fat Angel Sings 