Mitski is back with a new release titled “Working for the Knife,” along with an accompanying music video and a 2022 tour announcement. “Working for the Knife” marks the emotive singer’s re-entry to her personal and poetic landscape after a three-year hiatus after the 2018 release of Be the Cowboy.
Produced by Mitski’s longtime collaborator Patrick Hyland, “Working for the Knife” starts off as a powerful drone-heavy track, softened by Mitski’s lingering vocals and bell-like keys. Carefully woven, “Working for the Knife” is a surreal recounting of the singer’s relationship with the symbolic “knife” that cuts deep and exposes what’s inside.
“It’s about going from being a kid with a dream, to a grown up with a job, and feeling that somewhere along the way you got left behind,” Mitski said of the new song in a statement. “It’s being confronted with a world that doesn’t seem to recognize your humanity and seeing no way out of it.”