Photo Credit: Frances Carter
The Beths — the New Zealand-based quartet of vocalist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck — announce their new album, Straight Line Was A Lie—their first for their new label ANTI—out August 29th, and share the new single/video, “No Joy.” The Beths know the futility of straight lines. Existential vertigo serves as the primary theme on the indie heroes’ fourth album. The Beths posit that the only way round is through; that even after going through difficult, transformative experiences, you can still feel as though you’ve ended up in the same place. It’s a bewildering thing, realising that life and personal growth are cyclical and continual. That a chapter doesn’t always end with peace and acceptance. That the approach is simply continuing to try, to show up. “Linear progression is an illusion,” Stokes explains. “What life really is is maintenance. But you can find meaning in the maintenance.”
