9/2/25 ADDS
CURRENT
UPCOMING
RECENT
LIVE
ABOUT
THE BETHS
Straight Line Was A Lie (ANTI- Records)
Add date: 9.2.2025
Release date: 8.29.2025
Links:
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Instagram
Spotify
Tidal
YouTube
The Beths know the futility of straight lines. Existential vertigo serves as the primary theme on the New Zealand indie heroes’ fourth album Straight Line Was A Lie (their first for new label ANTI-), on which The Beths — led by songwriter Elizabeth Stokes — 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. Written in Los Angeles and self-recorded in the band’s hometown of Auckland, Straight Line Was A Lie follows 2022’s critically celebrated LP Expert In A Dying Field. This time Stokes delves deeper into her psyche to address everything from roundabout progress (“Straight Line Was A Lie”) to physical and mental health challenges (“Metal,” “No Joy”) and fraught family dynamics (“Mother Pray For Me”). Since Stokes, Jonathan Pearce (guitarist/producer), and Benjamin Sinclair (bassist) started playing together (Tristan Deck joined on drums in 2019), the four-piece have steadily risen through the indie-rock ranks, opening for household name acts like Pixies, The Breeders, The Postal Service, and Death Cab For Cutie; and they’ve garnered significant praise from pop and indie-adjacent heroes like Phoebe Bridgers, not to mention tastemaking outlets like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. Over the last six years, The Beths have appeared at major international festivals, from Coachella to Primavera Sound to Newport Folk Festival and Bonnaroo, and Expert In A Dying Field has earned millions of global streams since its release in 2022. Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with wryly knowing song titles like “Future Me Hates Me” and “Expert In A Dying Field” — catchy, instant-classic turns of phrase that capture the personal and ladder up to the universal. But Stokes’ intentional deconstruction and rebuilding of her relationship to writing has resulted in a complete renewal. Her songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability, making Straight Line Was A Lie the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date.
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Spotify
Tidal
YouTube
The Beths know the futility of straight lines. Existential vertigo serves as the primary theme on the New Zealand indie heroes’ fourth album Straight Line Was A Lie (their first for new label ANTI-), on which The Beths — led by songwriter Elizabeth Stokes — 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. Written in Los Angeles and self-recorded in the band’s hometown of Auckland, Straight Line Was A Lie follows 2022’s critically celebrated LP Expert In A Dying Field. This time Stokes delves deeper into her psyche to address everything from roundabout progress (“Straight Line Was A Lie”) to physical and mental health challenges (“Metal,” “No Joy”) and fraught family dynamics (“Mother Pray For Me”). Since Stokes, Jonathan Pearce (guitarist/producer), and Benjamin Sinclair (bassist) started playing together (Tristan Deck joined on drums in 2019), the four-piece have steadily risen through the indie-rock ranks, opening for household name acts like Pixies, The Breeders, The Postal Service, and Death Cab For Cutie; and they’ve garnered significant praise from pop and indie-adjacent heroes like Phoebe Bridgers, not to mention tastemaking outlets like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. Over the last six years, The Beths have appeared at major international festivals, from Coachella to Primavera Sound to Newport Folk Festival and Bonnaroo, and Expert In A Dying Field has earned millions of global streams since its release in 2022. Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with wryly knowing song titles like “Future Me Hates Me” and “Expert In A Dying Field” — catchy, instant-classic turns of phrase that capture the personal and ladder up to the universal. But Stokes’ intentional deconstruction and rebuilding of her relationship to writing has resulted in a complete renewal. Her songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability, making Straight Line Was A Lie the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date.