Album Review: Straight Line Was A Lie by The Beths

New Zealand indie pop band The Beths open their fourth album, Straight Line Was a Lie, with the record's title track. It is a zippy and impressively hooky tune, centering largely on an elliptical chorus about the cyclical nature of life's progressions: "I thought I was getting better / But I'm back to where I started / And the straight line was a circle / Yeah, the straight line was a lie." In addition to being a potent earworm, the track is a fitting thesis statement for one of indie's most consistent bands. Some artists are constantly reinventing with each new project.

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It has always been difficult to get through talking about The Beths without a string of "but stills" or "and yets", with the band occupying 'Indie Band' territory with a self-consciousness that can frustrate even while it charms. To be fair, singer and main songwriter Elizabeth Stokes has always tackled such doubts and tensions through her lyrics, and here we find the background to this album has the Auckland quartet dealing with writer's block through immersing themselves in LA's omnivorous culture. Now, The Beths have a great ear for a pithy line or title to set the scene: "Expert In A Dying Field" could be LinkedIn's theme tune for the 2020s, if it wasn't actually about love; "Future Me Hates Me" is to-the-point genius.

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The Beths’ latest album, Straight Line Was a Lie, is a record full of catchy hooks, big guitar riffs, and often introspective lyrics. The New Zealand quartet are at the top of their game. The melodies will grab the listener first, but Elizabeth Stokes’ inventive, thoughtful lyrics will stick around after multiple spins of the record. The title track kicks things off with a charmingly flubbed start, where a voice counts off, then halts, saying, “Sorry, I was thinking about something else”, then counts it off again, and the song starts for real.

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New Zealand's The Beths have never been ones to stick to script, delivering an eclectic blend of indie pop/rock in the process. The Auckland four-piece return with their fourth studio album, ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’, their first for new label ANTI . It's a record built around an array of influences, some expected, others perhaps not so, like Olivia Rodrigo and the films of Kurosawa.

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The shortest path between two points may be a straight line, but sometimes going in a straight line doesn't actually move you forward. This realization serves as the central theme on the Beths's fourth studio album, Straight Line Was a Lie, which was inspired, in part, by lead singer and songwriter Elisabeth Stokes's struggle to write the follow-up to the New Zealand band's critically acclaimed 2022 album Expert in a Dying Field. Stokes's songs have always been witty and self-aware, personal but relatable, and the lyrics on Straight Line Was a Lie offer even deeper, more vulnerable insights into her psyche.

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