{"id":376331,"date":"2025-08-27T01:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T01:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/376331\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T01:00:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T01:00:20","slug":"the-beths-reckon-with-growing-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/376331\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beths Reckon With Growing Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPast the pain and grandeur that accompany growth can sometimes come the realization that you might end up exactly where you started. The Auckland, New Zealand-based four piece the Beths<\/a> reckon with this conundrum on their fourth studio album, Straight Line Was a Lie, which adds a more introspective tone to the adrenaline-packed indie rock <\/a>they\u2019ve always done well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Beths debuted in 2018 with the catchy, self-aware Future Me Hates Me. Straight Line Was a Lie is a baby step away from their previous LPs<\/a>, slowing things down a bit for a strummier, reflective sound that balances ennui with that tongue-in-cheek angst. Vocalist and songwriter Elizabeth Stokes understands the meaning of \u201cWherever you go, there you are,\u201d as she delicately weaves through a confrontation with herself while also singing about integrating antidepressants into her life. With clever hooks and sharp vocals, her sweet melodies are tethered by creative partner and fellow guitarist Jonathan Pierce\u2019s crunchy melody lines, along with driving bass lines and stacked vocals from bandmates Benjamin Sinclair and Tristan Deck.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the title track, the band grapples with the fact that growth is not always a triumphant homecoming but often a repeating process, summed up in the simple declaration, \u201cI thought I was getting better\/But I\u2019m back to where I started\/And the straight line was a circle\/Yeah, the straight line was a lie.\u201d On \u201cNo Joy,\u201d Stokes laments the numbness accompanying her new prescription routine with a vacant delivery over fuzzy, surf-rock style guitars: \u201cOnly level lately\/Anhedonic on the daily\/Wanna feel, but I am failing,\u201d she sings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOver melancholic fingerpicking, Stokes faces the chasm of misunderstanding between mother and daughter on \u201cMother, Pray for Me.\u201d It\u2019s a gut punch that offers a worthy respite from the speedier songs in the middle of the record. This is some of Stokes\u2019 finest songwriting, tenderly asking her mother for a sign from the afterlife despite their glaring difference in beliefs: \u201cBut one day if you arrive\/Just send me a small sign\/I don\u2019t need the proof of place\/Just tell me you got there safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe melancholy deepens in the second half of the record with \u201cTill My Heart Stops,\u201d a meditation on how severance from the self and general despondency brought on by antidepressants are magnified by relationships. The song expertly plays with perspective, admitting the singer\u2019s own tendency to isolate, paired with minimal instrumentation in the first verse before kicking into gear in the second. The album\u2019s mood lifts back into energetic, classic Beths territory with \u201cRoundabout,\u201d a playful declaration of love that sweetly accepts the slightly embarrassing patheticism that comes with being in love.<\/p>\n

\n\tStraight Line Was a Lie culminates in a moment of meandering, expansive resignation on \u201cBest Laid Plans,\u201d a meditation on the unpredictability of growth with a swirling, almost anthemic chorus carrying the listener to the end: \u201cTake my money\/Take my hands\/Leave me lying with my best laid plans,\u201d Stokes offers. Four records in, the Beths know their formula works \u2014 their strengths lie in ear-worm choruses, insightful lyrics, and Stokes\u2019 sweet, knowing vocals, all anchored by stacked harmonies and sharp guitars. Straight Line Was a Lie finds the band embracing an openhearted surrender to every aspect of growth while acknowledging that the cycle will inevitably begin again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Past the pain and grandeur that accompany growth can sometimes come the realization that you might end up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,269,131405,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-376331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-the-beths","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115098027594769262","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}