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Watch
THE BETHS
make their late night
television debut on
Jimmy Kimmel Live!New album
STRAIGHT LINE WAS A LIE
Out Now on ANTI-Australian Tour
On Sale Now!
.“[The Beths] split the difference between massive radio friendly anthems and songs that are slower and more reflective but that still manage to convey just as much electricity and energy…” — NPR Music
“On the Auckland indie rockers’ most incisive album, bulletproof hooks cloak gnarly emotional realities and cheerfulness always comes tinged with a creeping sadness.” — Pitchfork
“Few indie rock bands are working at The Beths’ level when it comes to sparkling, nuanced guitar pop.”
— Brooklyn Vegan“Jangle rock magic.” — Rolling Stone
“[On ‘No Joy,’] Stokes deadpans over playful post-punk guitars. SSRIs can take away emotions, sure, but it can’t take away bangers.” – Stereogum
“Liz Stokes is a master of the crunchy, three-minute earworm that smooshes happy and sad together into a delicious pop PB&J.” – Brooklyn Vegan
“[Liz Stokes] sings with humble honesty.” – The New York Times, on “Mother, Pray For Me”
“…a more insightful, introspective album than anything the band has released in the past—though Stokes’ clever lyrics are still front and centre.” – A.V. Club
“So far we’ve heard ‘Metal’ and ‘No Joy,’ both of which are sonically upbeat and lyrically conflicted. With…’Mother, Pray For Me,’ the Auckland indie rock outfit is going full tearjerker mode.” – Stereogum
Earlier this year, The Beths—“one of the most consistent groups in indie-rock” (Billboard)—released their new album, Straight Line Was A Lie, via ANTI-. The New Zealand-based quartet of vocalist/guitarist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck’s fourth album containing “some of the most thoughtful songwriting of The Beths’ career,” (Under The Radar) rapidly garnered praise from Australia, the U.S. and abroad, earning rave reviews from Double J, ABC Arts & Entertainment, Sydney Morning Herald, The Big Issue, The Guardian, NPR Music, Pitchfork, SPIN, Paste, Stereogum, and more.
Last night, The Beths made their late night television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!performing Straight Line Was A Lie’s standout opening title track, praised by Stereogum as a “total slam dunk of an opener.” This performance gives a taste of what to expect on the band’s extensive world tour, which kicked off last month in Europe. The Beths have an announced an Australian Tour which kicks off in April 2026. A full list of dates is below, and tickets are now available here.
The path from The Beths’ critically celebrated and year-end-list-topping 2022 album Expert In A Dying Field to Straight Line Was A Lie was anything but straightforward. For the first time, Stokes was struggling to write new songs beyond fragments she’d recorded on her phone. She’d recently started taking an SSRI, which on one hand made her feel like she could “fix” everything broken in her life, from her mental and physical health to fraught family dynamics. At the same time, writing wasn’t coming as easily as it had before.
With Straight Line Was A Lie, Stokes broke down the typical Beths writing process, opening themselves up to a wave of creative input, with Stokes’ free-flowing writing routine proving to be therapeutic. Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with catchy, instant-classic turns of phrase that capture the personal and ladder up to the universal. But Stokes’ intentional deconstruction and rebuilding of her relationship to writing, however, has resulted in a complete renewal. Her songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability, making Straight Line Was A Lie the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date.
.THE BETHS
AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2026PRESENTED BY DOUBLE J & SELECT MUSIC
TICKETS AT HANDSOMETOURS.COM
FRIDAY 17 APRIL | THE GOV, ADELAIDE/TARNDANYA, SA TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE
SATURDAY 18 APRIL | ASTOR THEATRE, PERTH/BOORLOO, WA TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE
THURSDAY 23 APRIL | THE TIVOLI, BRISBANE/MENANJIN, QLD TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE
FRIDAY 24 APRIL | ROUNDHOUSE, SYDNEY/EORA, NSW TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE
SATURDAY 25 APRIL | FORUM, MELBOURNE/NAARM, VIC TICKETS AVAILABLE HEREPurchase/stream STRAIGHT LINE WAS A LIE HERE
STRAIGHT LINE WAS A LIE
Track listing1. Straight Line Was A Lie
2. Mosquitoes
3. No Joy
4. Metal
5. Mother, Pray For Me
6. Til My Heart Stops
7. Take
8. Roundabout
9. Ark Of The Covenant
10. Best Laid Plans Follow THE BETHS
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