Indie rock has become a sort of life raft for artists who are undefined by genre. Mitski is the latest to be hauled on board with an album that has more in common with Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways than anything in the supposed broad strokes of indie rock. Nothing’s About to Happen to Me has all the hallmarks of a swansong despite Mitski, hopefully, being far from the end of her career. Instrumentally, it has all the softer undertakings of country and Americana swells, the emotional context of these lyrics firmly at play. Mitski has engaged with this feeling of never knowing where you stand or what you can achieve through your actions. Memories engulf this chance to be active and reactive, and it’s what Mitski hopes to push against across Nothing’s About to Happen to Me. Is the tranquillity of nothing a greater danger than the activity of highs and lows? Mitski argues that it is, and her convincing material sells such a message well.
Opening song In a Lake is tinged with such instrumental skill, that swell to coincide with a move to the big city is no doubt a feeling many listeners will have engaged with. Moving from some small town to a capital city is laid out musically, and it feels much like Mitski describes it on In a Lake. There is a claustrophobia in the open country as there is in the thick concrete skyscrapers of London or New York. That laid-back, lounge style is replaced by a steadier, jarring rock and roll sound that thoroughly suits Mitski’s intent here. Where’s My Phone? is a stellar follow-up. It’s the realistic turnout of what happens when you end up in the big city. Just like everyone with even a cursory glance at the news, the threat of death and a Cold War-like fear is present. It looms over us as much as it does Nothing’s About to Happen to Me. Mitski feels something may happen, and yet nothing ever does. These are now beliefs that can coexist, and she explores this brilliantly.
Take If I Leave, for example, a song which feels for companionship in those isolating thoughts that all is lost and cannot be regained. We are plodding on for the sake of it and there needs to be a call to arms, but the organisation is not poised to work. Mitski does well to avoid the shadowy nihilism that can come with such thoughts but it does linger all the same, it is hanging around the door of your mind and it presents itself in some exceptionally dark, heavy rock. Standout tracks like that are frequent across Nothing’s About to Happen to Me, an album that promises the opposite of its title will happen. Eventually, we will find ourselves with something to report or react to, and we don’t get a choice in when. All we choose is how we respond and Mitski has called on us to engage with the fire in the pit of our stomachs. It’s an exceptional call to arms, which notes often the calmness and inevitability of death. Instead of Hear shares that feeling of careering towards the only outcome we’ll all share, but there is plenty of track ahead.
Mitski works through many genres here and contains multitudes she had hinted at in the past. Now they come to a head on one of her best albums to date. I’ll Change for You is a magnificently harsh putdown of those who are willing to do as the title instructs, while the easy-going instrumental style of Rules makes up for the lesser lyrical play. A nice suggestion but not quite landed. The sole moment where Nothing’s About to Happen to Me feels a tad shaky. Mitski may pull from her time on the road as her reason for never feeling like she’s at home, but even those who are comfortable with the four walls around them will feel that urge to move from time to time. Home is not defined by the place you are because that’s changing faster than you are. Nothing’s About to Happen to Me is one of the rare albums of the last few years to really connect with that sense of abandon.
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