After releasing hit album Be the Cowboy in 2018, alternative artist Mitski has added yet another album to her discography. After gaining popularity with her 2018 album, Mitski has released two albums since then, including her newest. On Friday, Sept 15, Mitski released her seventh studio album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We. Consisting of 11 tracks that total only 32 minutes, the album explores Mitski’s emotions and thoughts during the different stages of her love life.

The following is the tracklist for The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, along with my opinions of the meanings of each song:

1. “Bug Like an Angel”: As the first track on the album, “Bug Like an Angel” begins with a gentle acoustic guitar riff. However, this calm tone changes less than a minute into the song as there is a sudden crescendo with echo and background voices. After the crescendo, Mitski’s tone goes back to calm and soft. This switch appears multiple times throughout the song, but ultimately ends with the same gentle guitar riff that the song began with. With some of the open lyrics being, “As I got older, I learned I’m a drinker / Sometimes, a drink feels like family”, Mitski displays the overall message of the opening track to be loneliness and depression, likely over a past relationship. 
2. “Buffalo Replaced”: As the second track begins, the acoustic guitar that opened the album changes to a more intense riff accompanied by drums, but the same soft vocals seen in most of the first track are maintained. With this song, Mitski seems to sing about her new found hope, expressed through a buffalo, and how she finds comfort in it. Demonstrated in lyrics such as, “But I know nothing can hurt me when I see her sleepin’ face”, Mitski seems to find solace after the end of her relationship with the help of the “buffalo”. 
3. “Heaven”: Keeping the same pattern of gentle guitar to intense drums as seen in the last track, “Heaven” paints the picture of Mitski recalling the sweet moments between her and her lover. More positive than the first two tracks, Mitski seems to be swooning at the thought of her significant other when they are away when she says, “As I sip on the rest of the coffee you left / A kiss left of you”. This track contrasts with “Buffalo Replaced” in the sense that this song brings attention to the highlights of Mitski’s previous relationship, rather than remembering the negative outcome. 
4. “I Don’t Like My Mind”: With a more edgy tone than the previous songs, “I Don’t Like My Mind” begins with Mitski stating her dislike towards being left alone with her thoughts. After a particularly bad instance of this mental solitude, Mitski admits to binge-eating as a response to the situation. With the combination of guilt and stress, Mitski says, “And then I get sick and throw up and there’s another memory that gets stuck / Inside the walls of my skull waiting for its turn to talk”. With these lyrics, she is seen to regret the actions of her eating choices, as well as the words left unspoken in her relationship. 
5. “The Deal”: With the same gentle to intense crescendo as the first track, this song discusses Mitski’s desire to give her soul to someone in order to free herself from her emotions. Through the use of metaphor, Mitski describes herself as a bird, and her soul as the cage that has trapped the bird. However, as the song progresses, she comes to the realization that the bird is her soul and she is the cage. While rethinking her goal of discarding her soul, Mitski realizes that she cannot escape her emotions in the line, “Your pain is eased but you’ll never be free”. 
6. “When Memories Snow”: Beginning with staggered piano and background echoes, this track showcases Mitski’s inability to perform her daily routine due to the haunting memories of her past relationship. The line, “And if I break / Could I go on break?” shows Mitski’s longing to forget her rocky past if she should inevitably lose her temper over the abrupt pause in her routine. 
7. “My Love Mine All Mine”: Being one of the most popular songs on the album, “My Love Mine All Mine” begins with a peaceful guitar riff and calm snares. These lead directly into Mitski discussing the light of the moon in the night sky, a metaphor for the love she feels for her significant other. With the simple chorus of, “My love is mine, all mine / Nothing in the world belongs to me / But my love, mine, all mine, all mine”, Mitski expresses how her partner is a constant part of her life, and that the love she feels from them overjoys her. 
8. “The Frost”: A faster tempo than any of the previous songs, this track continues the overall calm tone of the album. In observing the frost on her window, Mitski relates her lover to the frost, thus associating it with isolation and loneliness. When reflecting on the loss of her partner, Mitski says, “You’re my best friend, now I’ve no one to tell / How I lost my best friend”. The frost she sees reminds her of her partner and friend, both of which are no longer in her life. 
9. “Star”: With an ominous start, “Star” dives more deeply into the loss of her partner, and discusses how she believes that their love allowed her to see the beauty of life. With lyrics such as, “You know I’d always been alone / ‘Til you taught me / To live for somebody”, Mitski’s partner seems to better her life to the point of making her want to better herself for the person that she loves. 
10. “I’m Your Man”: Using more falsetto than on other tracks, this song has a very strong theme of self deprecation. Throughout the track, Mitski discusses how her partner views her as perfect, despite the flaws she thinks outweigh the positives. In the lines, “You believe me like a god / I betray you like a man”, Mitski’s lover seems to believe that she can do no wrong, and almost views her as a religious figure in that sense. At the same time, Mitski herself believes that she disappoints her partner by being imperfect, even though she is treated like a god. 
11. “I Love Me After You”: As the closing track on the album, “I Love Me After You” transitions once again from a serene mood to a dramatic mood. In this song, Mitski repeatedly emphasizes the prominent love that she feels toward her partner, so much so that she cares for herself less than her partner. The carefree attitude expressed as a result of her contentment is shown in the lyrics, “Stride through the house naked / Don’t even care that the / Curtains are open”. Mitski is so in love that she stops caring about others, as well as herself, because she is so satisfied with her relationship. 

The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, while sharing a similar tone with her other albums, dives deeper into themes of feeling of lonely and guilty within her relationships. After listening to the album the first time through, I will admit I was not particularly blown away by the overall production. However, in my opinion, the lyrics are some of the best I’ve heard from Mitski so far. Her ability to express her emotions through poetic metaphors and imagery continued to amaze me through this album, and I look forward to hearing more from Mitski in the future.