The Beths – ‘Straight Line Was a Lie’ album review: a poppy hug from your Kiwi pals
Such is the friendliness of the band, it’s hard to be entirely objective about The Beths. That’s not to besmirch the quality of their music. But to not mention it would also be a slight on their charm.
It was the music video for ‘Your Side’ that did it for me. Dorks having a laugh out on a happy little road trip. It played into the eternal appeal of being a band on the road, goofing around in a rental van that lingers in every one of us who was a teenager in the 2005-2015 era, where home-shot shenanigans were the norm on MTV2 and early YouTube.
Their fourth album, Straight Line Was a Lie, harnesses that upbeat, adventurous notion. Thematically, the new record is about the myth of linear development and how life is a spiral of constant upkeep. But there’s a subtext that proves palpable too. It is one that has abided with The Beths right through to their latest chapter on their new label ANTI- records: that the maintenance of life is made a lot easier by the friends who lend a hand.
Even on tracks like ‘No Joy’ that tackle the aches and pains of lethargy, this dour presentiment is pointedly undercut by the semblance that you can at least make light of apathy with friends and an angular riff. Catchy choruses, reminiscent of The La’s, are commonplace on this honest album that wavers between tones of pop-punk, pure 2000s indie, and the more songwriting-focused frontier of modern post-punk.
It’s wry and lilting, but Elizabeth Stokes is also unafraid to croon with utter, sweet, and vulnerable sincerity on songs like ‘Mother, Pray For Me’. This mix of tenderness, jokes, and light reflections on rather serious trends, makes for an album that is at once welcoming yet also arresting, not unlike a heartfelt catch-up with an old friend.
Above all, it’s solid pop songwriting, too. There’s no doubt that it doesn’t reinvent any wheels. In fact, it quite happily gets pretty close to repurposing the indie wheels of circa 2014, but it’s unpretentious enough to celebrate that fact proudly and picnic upon the lesser-known alternative patch of being delightfully pleasant.
The perfect listening experience: Driving back to your hometown a little wearily, but warmed by nostalgia and a service station latte.
For fans of: Indie music videos from 2009, where shaky VHS footage compiled shots of bands pushing each other into swimming pools, eating burgers, looking out of tour bus windows as though the camera isn’t there.
A concluding comment from your local edgy avant-gardist: “Indie and the struggles of linear development? Wow. The DSM has some way edgier stuff these days.”
Release date: August 29th, 2025 | Producer: Jonathan Pearce | Label: ANTI-
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