In Mitski’s new song, "Bug Like an Angel," a hazy, offhand image comes creeping into view: "There’s a bug like an angel/ Stuck to the bottom/ Of my glass, with a little bit left," she sings.
Mitski then zooms out to a suggestion of generational pain: "As I got older/ I learned I’m a drinker/ Sometimes a drink feels like family." Then, a choir heaves the word back to her: "Family!"
So begins the debut single from Mitski’s new album, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, out Sept. 25 via Dead Oceans. It’ll be the revered singer/songwriter’s second album in just over a year; she dropped Laurel Hell in early 2022.
The "Bug Like an Angel" video is quietly harrowing. An elderly woman staggering outside of a watering hole into the damp, unforgiving horizon, as Mitski strums on and said choir underpins the drama.
As the simple, unflinching composition unfurls, Mitski builds to the two-opposing-truths kicker: "The wrath of the devil was also given to him by God."
Check out the video for "Bug Like an Angel" below, and keep watching this space for more news about Mitski and The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We.