Credits:

The Beths

After releasing Expert in a Dying Field (2022) — the hooky indie rockers third album and most melancholy endeavor yet — the Beths Elizabeth Stokes was having trouble writing new songs. Likely exacerbated by, if not caused by, having recently started on an SSRI, she and bandmate Jonathan Pearce, whos produced all their albums, delved into the writing process with books on both writing and tackling projects (including Stephen Kings enduring advice book, On Writing), Additionally, they stimulated creativity by attending shows, watching arthouse films, and so on. For a month, Stokes started every morning by hammering out ten pages of stream-of-consciousness prose on a Remington typewriter. The resulting album, Straight Line Was a Lie, features her most personal and confessional material yet, and while her lyrics have always been self-depreciating and full of obstacles, here they struggle with overwhelm. Still offering so