Pre4k: Mitski

Set Time: Catch Mitski at 4pm on Saturday, performing on the Blue Stage

Intro Tracks: Your Best American Girl, I Bet On Losing Dogs, Texas Reznikoff

Why You Should Be There: It’s always great to see women, especially women of color, finding success by articulating their lived experience. Be sure to also check out Kilo Kish and headliner Solange for your fix of minority femme power at Pitchfork.

While many music festivals are slowly improving at mixing up their gender imbalance, it’s nice to see Pitchfork bringing out larger name female artists who dominate their respective genres. One of these artists is Japanese born, American raised Mitski Miyawaki. Her most recent release, Puberty 2, is an album perfect for summertime, and has been the indie scene’s favorite angsty soundtrack to midnight discussions of identity and belonging for the past year. Mitski manages to make her music a beautiful ode to control and release. Both the album overall and individual songs see her exerting exactitudes before exposing the raw emotions driving her work, making her guitar wail in the same manner she produces guttural vocal bends.

Every club show Mitski has played since the release of Puberty 2 seems to create a strong sense of community for the attendees. Along with the refreshingly clear perspective Mitski brings to her music, there is also an across-the-board relatability in the emotions it elicits–even if you can’t bring the same personal experience. But when you do connect on that deeper level, an unbreakable connection is formed between artist and audience. I truly look forward to seeing Mitski cast her spell on the Pitchfork crowd.

Listen to Puberty 2 here: