In August 2018 The Beths released their breakout album entitled Future Me Hates Me. It’s common theme is the uneasiness that comes with being a young adult.
The first song on the album, Great No One, sets this tone with lines like “[I’m] Just a broken bulb Flickering with doubt” and “Always caught in between.” This song, as well as the rest of the album, heavily features power chords and quick bass lines to match the upbeat percussion. This gives the entire album a rushed feeling.
The title song, Future Me Hates Me, has a bit of a slower pace but has the same general vibe as the rest of the album. This pattern of a slow song followed by a fast song repeats in the next two songs. Not running mixes this pattern up a bit by mixing faster paced parts with parts that have simpler instrumentals and more tender vocals.
Little Death is about the feeling of faintness that one feels when they’re around someone special. I think a song about a universal feeling tends to be more powerful when it is put into song because it is so relatable. River Run: Lvl 1 is a nice change of pace from the rest of the album. The usual power chords are mixed in with fingerpicking underneath Elizabeth Stokes’s vocals. The penultimate song on the album, Whatever, has a similar feeling to two other songs on the album: Uptown Girl and Happy Unhappy. However, it manages to distinguish itself from the others with an impressive solo by the band’s guitarist, Jonathan Pearce.
Finally, Less Than Thou does a great job of pulling the whole album together with a mix of sounds from both the slower and faster paced songs. Benjamin Sinclair’s bass lines on this album are some of my favorites. They compliment the tracks nicely yet still stand out when it’s clear they are supposed to. One of the biggest defining features of this album are Stokes’s vocals which seem powerful and clear. I wish that same energy carried over into the Band’s live performances. The sound seems to falter and sounds less supported in the videos that I’ve watched.
My only complaint about the album is the lack of variation. Many of the songs sound very similar and I can’t listen to the album for long periods of time because all of the songs begin to blend together and they are no longer enjoyable. Even though I really enjoy The Beths’ current sound I would love to see them branch out a bit mroe in the future. But, overall, I adore Future Me Hates Me and every single song on it.
If you’re looking for more music similar to the songs featured on Future Me Hates Me I would suggest Cut Your Bangs by Girlpool, Pedestrian at Best by Courtney Barnett, Wes Anderson by Alex Lahey or Nevermine by Forth Wanders. All of these songs are reminicent of the work of The Beths.