Album of the Week: The Beths hit their peak on ‘Expert in a Dying Field’
Now this is what pop-punk wishes it was. For decades on end, musicians have been trying to find the perfect balance between hard-edged guitars, harmonies, catchy melodies, loud drums, and snotty attitudes. Most of those who try tend to lean too hard into the punk part. But, luckily for them, The Beths don’t have to carry around the baggage and expectations of being a punk band. They’re not a punk band: they’ve just made the best pop-punk album of the year.
Over 12 perfectly crafted tracks, New Zealand’s most infectious band of indie rockers interrogate life as a neurotic romantic. They’re not even trying to hide their expertise since the album and opening song are literally called Expert in a Dying Field. But there’s no sense of superiority in their delivery, with lead singer Liz Stokes leaning into cleverness without pretension. It’s just really fun to dig into the lyrics, with fascinating turns of phrases bouncing around every couple of seconds.
That’s not what you’ll gravitate towards first, though. With the one-two-three punch of ‘Expert in a Dying Field’, ‘Knees Deep’, and ‘Silence is Golden’, The Beths have crafted three of their fastest, most intoxicatingly melodic, and fantastically memorable songs of their career. Each one has a different feeling to it: ‘Expert in a Dying Field’ is anthemic, ‘Knees Deep’ is loopy and self-deprecating, and ‘Silence is Golden’ is pure speed and impact. During this run, drummer Tristan Deck, whose uncanny precision is put to the test as the band cranks up the BPM. Deck is in full control, throwing down splashy and thunderous rhythms that keep the excitement going strong. It’s quite simply the best three-song run I’ve heard on an album this year.
After that, ‘Your Side’ gives the band a bit of a breather with a more languid and introspective look at love. Heartbreak isn’t about grand gestures on ‘Your Side’: it’s about seeing someone knocking at your front door and minding their own business in the rain. But it’s also about jumping on a plane and flying across the world just to be with someone. “I could be the space between you and the air you breath / Between what you say and mean” is one of the more stinging lyrical turns on the album, with expectations and reality crashing into each other like an awful car crash.
Even as they enter a more relaxed pace throughout the rest of Expert in a Dying Field, The Beths never keep their eye off the ball. They may never reach the same heights that they do on the album’s first three tracks, but songs like ‘Head in the Clouds’ and ‘I Told You That I Was Afriad’ are still infectious blasts of souped-up power pop with punk guitars and barbershop harmonies.
It’s not a perfect album. The early 2000s pastiche sound of ‘When You Know You Know’ doesn’t quite connect, while Stokes gets into a strangely lazy lyrical land in ‘Best Left’. But those off moments only serve to boost the better parts, and when the home stretch starts on the emotionally wrought ‘A Passing Rain’, you can almost feel The Beths locking into their groove. As the light guitars of ‘2am’ come chiming in, you get the overwhelming feeling that usually only comes after spilling out of a great concert in the early morning hours. It’s exhaustion, but only because so much energy and euphoria were spilt in the process.
The Beths have two very solid albums, Future Me Hates Me and Jump Rope Gazers, in their back catalogue. Expert in a Dying Field, however, is a watermark for the band. It’s their best album yet, with all of the feral energy and perfectly pitched harmonies at their absolute peak. Stokes’ songwriting has unfolded into a wonderful world of love, loss, devotion, and uncertainty, all filtered through the lens of a truly original musical mind.
It’s rare to see catchy songs and clever songwriting converge in such a potent package, but that’s exactly what happens on Expert in a Dying Field. It’s an album that shows a band reaching the height of their collective abilities. The results are nothing short of spectacular, and if you need a companion to your own rollercoaster of a love life, go ahead and let Expert in a Dying Field soundtrack your falls and fuckups this time around.
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