Mitski: Puberty 2 (white vinyl) [DEAD OCEANS]

Why you'll love it

This white vinyl edition comes with a printed insert and a download card. Puberty 2, her first album for Dead Oceans, drew wide critical acclaim and "Your Best American Girl" became one of the defining indie rock songs of the decade.

This edition

• White vinyl
• Printed insert
• Download card included

About the album

After Bury Me at Makeout Creek made her an indie name, Mitski said she felt out of touch with music, so she went back to her roots. She drew on all three of her earlier albums and called the new one kind of a two-parter with the last. It was recorded in two weeks at Acme Studios in Westchester, New York, with longtime collaborator Patrick Hyland producing. She also decided the songs wouldn't be copied note for note on stage, and planned new live arrangements instead.

"Happy" opens with a drum machine and a blast of saxophone, "Your Best American Girl" builds from a whisper to a wall of guitars, and "Dan the Dancer" and "I Bet on Losing Dogs" show off her gift for small, devastating detail. "My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars" is a fuzzed-out sprint, and "A Burning Hill" closes things quietly. Drum machines sit under Pixies-inspired guitar riffs, a neat twist on her fuzz-rock sound.

Longing, love and identity all sit near the surface, delivered with a confidence she said came from knowing exactly what she wanted. We'd call it a growth spurt, but the title got there first.

Also at Kops: more Mitski on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Dead Oceans (cat# DOC123), the 2016 album.