The Beths will drop their fourth album, “Straight Line Was A Lie” (out August 29). The band released the second single from the album, “No Joy,” this week, and it’s a nice complement to “Metal.” “No Joy” is propelled by drummer Tristan Decks’ infectious percussion and vocalist and guitarist Elizabeth Stokes’ deadpan lyrics. Stokes said about the song in a press release, “It’s about anhedonia, which, paradoxically, was there both in the worst parts of depression, and then also when I was feeling pretty numb on my SSRI. It wasn’t that I was sad, I was feeling pretty good. It was just that I didn’t like the things that I liked. I wasn’t getting joy from them. It’s very literal.”
Written in Los Angeles and self- recorded in the band’s hometown of Auckland, “Straight Line Was A Lie” (their first release for ANTI-) follows 2022’s critically celebrated LP “Expert in A Dying Field“. Lead singer and songwriter Liz Stokes delves deeper into her psyche to address everything from roundabout progress to physical and mental health challenges, and fraught family dynamics. Inspired by The Go-Go’s, Olivia Rodrigo, flmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and Stephen King’s On Writing, amongst others, Stokes’ songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability.
Fans will agree that “Straight Line Was A Lie” is the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date. New Zealand indie rock heroes The Beths latest album “Straight Line Was A Lie” is a catchy, instant classic out on Anti.
The Fat Angel Sings 
Man I love this band. Lizzy Stokes writes some of the most beguiling pop music around. And I swear there’s a metal band backing her if they would just acknowledge their roots.