Beths, The - Future Me Hates Me - Cloudy Grape Color Vinyl Record LP

The Beths occupy a warm, energetic sonic space between joyful hooks, sun-soaked harmonies, and acerbic lyrics. Their 2018 debut album Future Me Hates Me delivers an astonishment of roadtrip-ready pleasures, each song hitting your ears with an exhilarating endorphin rush like the first time you heard Slanted and Enchanted or "Cannonball."

Front and center on these ten infectious tracks is lead singer and primary songwriter Elizabeth Stokes. Stokes has previously worked in other genres within Auckland's rich and varied music scene, recently playing in a folk outfit, but it was in exploring the angst-ridden sounds of her youth that she found her place. "Fronting this kind of band was a new experience for me," says Stokes. "I never thought I had the right voice for it." From the irresistible title track to singles "Happy Unhappy" and "You Wouldn't Like Me," Stokes commands a vocal range that spans from the brash confidence of Joan Jett to the disarming vulnerability of Jenny Lewis.

Further honeying Future Me Hates Me's dark lyrics that explore complex topics like being newly alone and the self-defeating anticipation of impending regret, ecstatic vocal harmonies bubble up like in the greatest pop and R&B of the ‘60s, while inverting the trope of the "sad dude singer accompanied by a homogenous girl-sound. Channeling their stew of personal-canon heroes while drawing inspiration from contemporaries like Alvvays and Courtney Barnett, The Beths serve up deeply emotional lyrics packaged within heavenly sounds that delight in probing the limits of the pop form.

1. Great No One
2. Future Me Hates Me
3. Uptown Girl
4. You Wouldn't Like Me
5. Not Running
6. Little Death
7. Happy Unhappy
8. River Run: Lvl 1
9. Whatever
10. Less Than Thou