Mitski unveiled the latest single from Laurel Hell in the form of “Heat Lightning.” The brooding song is three minutes of the artist ruminating about the perils of insomnia (we’ve all been there before). “Heat Lightning” was originally written by Mitski on piano, where she sings “And there’s nothing I can do // Not much I can change // Can I give it up to you / Would that be okay? / There’s nothing I can do / Not much I can change // I give it up to you / I surrender.”
The animated video for “Heat Lightning” was created by Alex Moy.
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Describing Laurel Hell in a release, Mitski said that she “needed songs that could help me forgive both others and myself…I needed to create this space mostly for myself where I sat in that gray area.”
Mitski wrote many of the songs that would comprise Laurel Hell prior to 2018, including this one. The album is described as “is a soundtrack for transformation, a map to the place where vulnerability and resilience, sorrow and delight, error and transcendence can all sit within our humanity, can all be seen as worthy of acknowledgment, and ultimately, love.
Previously, Mitski released “Working for the Knife” and “The Only Heartbreaker.”
Laurel Hell is out on February 4 on Dead Oceans.
