Mitski: 'Drunk Walk Home' SXSW 2016 | NPR MUSIC FRONT ROW

We have the benefit of hindsight when it comes to 1950s and '60s pop music. Songs about motorcycle crashes and broken hearts sound quaint now, but the sweet harmonies and four-on-the-floor beats reflected real anxieties of teens and twentysomethings. Mitski Miyawaki - who records under her first name - makes music that looks to that era, both in style and substance. The 25-year-old Brooklyn songwriter channels the "pop" reflection of everyday trauma. This is realness, often riddled with feedback, but more often sung in quiet and determined desperation.
This is why when she played our SXSW showcase, you could be forgiven in thinking that her songs about loss, heartbreak, aimlessness and identity carry a dark weight. Largely culling from 2014's Bury Me At Makeout Creek, Mitski's set was spare in its instrumentation, but cavernous in emotion. "Townie," the particularly doomy "I Don't Smoke" and the feedback-squealing closer "Drunk Walk Home" derailed into fuzz and wild vocal acrobatics, while "First Love" felt like a bedroom confessional.
But Mitski also performed two songs from the forthcoming Puberty 2, a record that opens up her sonic and lyrical palette. "Once More to See You," getting a first taste here, is like something out of a cloudy dream, with a space between guitar notes that's deliberate, yet disorienting. Mitski lets her voice breathe through the pauses like a lounge singer left alone in a velvet room. When she spoke with NPR about "Your Best American Girl," she said, "I am half Japanese, and it came from wanting to just fit into this very American person's life and simply not being able to." In Austin, it's a scorcher, riddled with sludgy distortion and crashing cymbals as if someone set off fireworks just above the stage. -- LARS GOTRICH
CREDITS
Producers: Saidah Blount, Mito Habe-Evans, Otis Hart; Technical Director: Josh Rogosin; Director: Mito Habe-Evans; Videographers: Nickolai Hammar, Katie Hayes Luke, Cameron Robert, A.J. Wilhelm, Lizzie Chen; Editor: Niki Walker; Audio: Timothy Powell/Metro Mobile; Assistant Audio Engineer: Loretta Rae; Production Assistants: Erin Conlon, Nathan Gaar; Editors: Niki Walker, Kara Frame. Photography: Adam Kissick. Special Thanks: SXSW, Stubb's BBQ; Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann.
Support for NPR Music comes from Blue Microphone.

[@SortaSnowy]

Mitski:
The Band:
The entire audience:
Mitski's earplug: 🟢

[@qwpy]

Does it glow pink in the night tho?

[@Cloud99464]

​@@qwpy 👀

[@baludlad2173]

i can't believe mitski invented music

[@netizenrealness]

invented screaming

[@MrBabima]

her screams make me feel some type of way

[@ginnylvjy]

when i cant scream, Mitski does it for me

[@joshuapocalypse]

Powerful stuff! Listening to this on my drunk walk home, I want to cry and be angry at the same time. Thank you, Mitski!

[@pain-tf2lp]

Wanted to like but I'm loving the 111 on it

[@elfido5091]

listening to this while angrily doing my eyeliner, love you mitski

[@candycanelover101]

WAIT STOP ME TOO

[@guadalupesantos8002]

how are her screams ON TUNE

[@dariashevchenko708]

Brand new kind of extreme vocal

[@heathermarcum4]

cause its mitski.

[@lilovuu222]

@@dariashevchenko708 brand new city

[@kais105]

so much better live! ahhhhhhhhHHHHHhhHh

[@pooja-jb2dt]

AGREED

[@lovespiral5downwards]

I could listen to this every day for the rest of my life and I would never get bored of it.

[@gachaguy4528]

I actually do listen to this every day and i am, in fact, not bored of it

[@ilawinterburn2111]

If I had to pick one artist to listen to for the rest of my days it would be Mitski

[@babykillingcadillac6719]

mitski is one of those artists that sounds just as good live if not better than in studio. she’s genuinely so talented

[@exceptmegansays]

stay safe

[@coolguycandy2156]

im not joking when i say i got chills

[@mitskiloml]

1:43 OMG THAT PART

[@clarityonyx]

i cant stop listening to this song someone stop me

[@dydb3]

she's amazing

[@heathermarcum4]

god shes perfect

[@comradehermit9320]

Little known fact; Jesus is actually pronounced Mitski.

[@marissaburdock6550]

So is God funnily enough

[@pokkle4626]

How dare you associate an existing goddess to a make believe god with a toxic fandom, the disrespect!

[@sleepy_s1845]

Let’s not..

[@pebblelive]

@@sleepy_s1845 it’s a joke…

[@francisforever6172]

I thought she didnt liked begin called a 'god'..

[@misapx]

Grite minha deusa GRITE

[@kopnijmnie]

I will retire to the salton sea
At the age of 23
For I'm starting to learn I may never be free
But though I may never be free
Fuck you and your money
I'm tired of your money
And I sit on the curb 'cause it's the prettiest night
With no one else in sight
You know I wore this dress for you
These killer heels for you
See the dark it moves
With every breath of the breeze

[@danni_2618]

I was sent here from TikTok and I'm glad but raging

[@AeJayAreepKu]

Mitski just gave birth to Yoko Ono

[@meow.9536]

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@zasddsaf]

raaaaahhhhhhhh

[@realvinestaff]

mitski 😮😮

[@nayooshie]

a primeira mulher do mundi

[@rhubarb1856]

lol i love this song

[@SunjayVideos]

anyone else listening to this to cope with Sanders dropping out and all hopes of addressing the existential threat of climate change using the current two party-system evaporating?

[@mot1614]

Let this radicalise you. Organise, it's the only way

[@ceciliamarques7832]

He didn't exactly dropped out, he just stopped campaigning but you can still vote for him. But yeah I get you......

[@nashira4673]

Cecília Marques stopped campaigning and endorsed the other guy. Be real.

[@lula6355]

seeing this comment on november 2nd is,,, weird

[@yenleaks]

Fuck yes

[@SchizoMuch]

Also, anyone know the name of the guitarist?

[@hilichrui]

Its mitski hope this helps

[@SchizoMuch]

​@@hilichruiMitski plays bass in this video. The guitarist is called Callan

[@hilichrui]

@@SchizoMuch thanks i didnt know this:D

[@SchizoMuch]

​@@hilichruiif you were being sarcastic I didn't catch that 😅 sorry

[@hilichrui]

@@SchizoMuch I WASNT I GENUINLY DIDNT KNOW😭 THANKS ANYWAY

[@lukaslourd]

❤

[@lissa3424]

♡

[@Pairs_bananas]

2:08

[@th3_sh007ing_st4r]

AHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHH ❤

[@helewapo5204]

it made me choke (in the good way)

[@gynaosjav6003]

AAAAAAAAA

[@SchizoMuch]

What is she yelling in 1:42?

[@amismart4762]

wonton?

[@Mikakitten1724]

Ami Smart LMAO now I can’t I hear that 😂😂

[@rockyroad179]

“1, 2!!!” Is what she says

[@floof4794]

I thought i was “WHATS UP”.

[@236_muhammadfadlirakananda2]

SchizoMuch sis said “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

[@jesusmacias8433]

hello

[@AvaBruno]

... decadence ...

[@natasha807]

Ew.

[@sikisiki7458]

what

[@j3llycatz460]

Ew? Can you explain why?

[@yoko6659]

i hate u

[@kluu880]

Nawww ur high or something this is a musical masterpiece

[@mitskilover13]

Me when u