Mitski Makes Strides at The Basement East

With winter beginning to set in, The Spin joined a layered-up, hyped-up, Gen-Z-leaning crowd in descending on The Basement East Nov. 13 for Mitski's much-anticipated Nashville date supporting Be the Cowboy, her third indie smash in a row since 2014's Bury Me at Makeout Creek. (Not only had this show been sold-out for almost two months, her entire fall tour of clubs sold out quickly.) If Cowboy's elegant, diversified pop trappings suggest that the 28-year-old, born Mitski Miyawaki, is seeking to branch out from the coarse punk-rock torch songs of Makeout Creek and its 2016 followup Puberty 2, her immaculate-sounding, tightly choreographed and beautifully lit performance affirmed her bid to take that next step: to widen her audience while giving her existing fans something new and different.

Unfortunately, we missed out on the opening set from electro-pop/folk duo Overcoats. But as soon as Mitski and her four-piece band hit the stage, up went the phones, and cries of adoration filled the room. The set, lasting a little more than an hour, testified to the strength and breadth of Mitski's catalog, boasting a staggering amount of classic-sounding tunes considering she has only six years’ worth of albums. It peaked with the emo-grunge gem “Your Best American Girl” — her “Ace of Spades,” if you will — which began slow and heartfelt before building up and exploding, its gait and dynamics recalling Sunny Day Real Estate, or golden-era Weezer. 

The rapid-fire set also hit on heavy, droning pop (“I Don't Smoke”), alternate-universe oldies (“First Love / Late Spring”) and homages to New Wave (“Townie,” with its funhouse synths) and disco (the modulation-laden “Nobody”). Barely longer than a typical Guided by Voices song, they often seemed to abandon great parts before fully exploring them. But they also never wore out their welcome, held together by Mitski's heavily enunciated, wounded yet resilient delivery and out-of-this-world range. Her bandmates, set far back on either side of her, play with a different timbre from her voice, allowing it to cut through nicely.

Equal parts rock concert and performance art, the stage show wasn’t quite as developed as the music itself. Mitski is a polymath who’s proficient on guitar, bass and keys, and she's performing sans instrument for the first time on this tour. For some songs, she stood stoically, gazing off into space. Others she acted out with interpretive dances and impassioned gestures — jumping for joy, collapsing to the floor, pacing quickly and agitatedly as if trapped in a Pong machine. Set to a backdrop of atmospheric, simple but pretty visuals (falling water, a fire in the distance, a city at night, a hypnotic spiral), these movements entertained but didn't exactly compel, their rehearsed air leaving us craving the more organic nature of the traditional rock configuration that she has left behind, at least for now.

“I'm very bad at banter,” Mitski remarked with a sigh during a break early in the set. No matter. As proven by the resounding response to her inward-gazing odes to love, lust and loneliness, Mitski the pop star may still be something of a work in progress, but Mitski the songwriter is an undeniable force.

See our slideshow for more photos.

In The Spin — the Scene's live review column — staffers and freelance contributors review concerts under a collective byline.