By: Christine Yang
Information about the album:
The album ‘The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We’ was made by the artist Mitski. The album was released on September 15, 2023, which was her comeback and recent album after releasing an album called ‘Laurel Hell’ in 2022. ‘The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We’ has eleven songs in the album. One of the songs in the album was one of the biggest hits after the release, and the song was “My Love Mine All Mine” with 560 million Spotify streams.
Songs:
“Bug Like an Angel”:
The process of the track, “Bug Like an Angel” has mainly four chords throughout it (chords: d flat major, a flat major, e flat major, b flat major) because the song is about addiction, and Mitski wanted to show it in a musical way that addiction is basically a cycle that you’re just kind of stuck in, it being repetitive over and over which doesn’t end, so the intention behind having the same chords repeating hopefully leads the listener to think what it’s about. Mitski also wanted a little twist/change by having the vocals in the middle of what we think is the chord progression; she wanted that twist to give a feeling of being off balance because the song is about addiction which isn’t a balanced state.
She started creating the song by having a descriptions so it’s easy to paint a picture in the listener’s head; she wanted the picture of someone drinking something out of a glass and which there’s stuff left. While they are drinking out of it, they realized there’s a bug stuck at the bottom of the glass, and because it’s stuck it looks like there’s an angel in the sky. She chose the angel reference so it can set the tone since later on in the song she says something about God and devils, which is supposed to give the listener the option to take two main meanings (positive or negative, pessimistic or optimistic) away depending on what they want out of the song.
After the the description Mitski wanted the protagonist to say something about themselves as an introduction, later on in the song there’s a choir part coming out of nowhere to be the first big emotional moment saying the word “family” with a whole choir out of nowhere, to evoke that sort of intensity with a choir as well. Then it goes back to the corporation and then the second verse, which is a spot to bring another character in and have the protagonist, who we know, point them out saying like, “Hey what’s the matter? You’re looking like a sticker stuck on a floor somewhere”. Which basically means like the person doesn’t look like they’re having a good time, like they look sad, despondent, and that phrase basically brings back to Mitski thinking stickers were so important to her when she was a kid, and how sad it’ll be if some kid’s precious sticker was stuck on a floor and couldn’t get it off. Basically, this brings up how the protagonist faces challenges which make them suffer, and that’s where the “God and devil” reference shows up, saying “is the suffering from God or the devil”, in the third verse. And that’s how the song “Bug Like an Angel” was created.
“Buffalo Replaced”:
“Buffalo Replaced” is a track that was supposed to give an idea of how the album, ‘The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We’, is like. The track specifically— Mitski and her producer, Patrick Highland, was really inspired by ‘The Velvet Underground’. While the inspiration was added at the beginning of the song, Patrick also added keyboard sounds at the end too, which added something beautiful at the end, in Mitski’s opinion.
“Buffalo Replaced” might be about being dependent/leeching onto someone, and having struggles without the person that you rely on.
“Heaven”:
“Heaven” is meant to exemplify the little time someone has with the person they love, and to cherish that time and leave the issues of the world outside the room to enjoy the beautiful love they share, Mitski has stated.
“Heaven” was an old song, but the beginning of the song sounded different than how it is now, because the older version didn’t have the swing that it does currently. Mitski was fine with that version; it just didn’t feel like it stood out as much alongside the other songs she wrote that have the same rhythm, so it sat for awhile until she and Patrick tried to figure out how to make it sound on a record.
The first demo version they did actually was right after they recorded “Be The Cowboy” in Philadelphia. That demo version had more of a Patsy Cline swing to it, which is closer to what it is now. The problem was that the track didn’t really have an album that it fit into or in the ‘Laurel Hell’ album so it sat some more, but eventually made the album ‘The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We’.
Since the track was such a romantic song, they wanted to do it with a whole orchestra and a sweeping Old Hollywood sound. They found an orchestrator, Drew Erickson, who did works with popular artists. Erickson orchestrated for “Heaven”, and then Mitski’s team recorded the orchestration part.
“I Don’t Like My Mind”:
The lyrics in ‘” Don’t Like My Mind” are literal and self explanatory, which the listeners can get the grip of what the song is about. The song could be about trying to distract yourself from negative thoughts and using stuff to cope with those things; it can also mean you not wanting to be alone with your thoughts due to negativity.
The production process for the demo was made right after she and her team recorded “Be The Cowboy”, and was also recorded in Philadelphia. The track in the song ended up being easy to make because it was similar and the end result was similar to the demo they made way back then. So, her team just kept the guitar track from the demo.
“The Deal”:
The song started by misinterpreting a Maria Mitchell poem, “How Charming is Divine Philosophy”. The poem is basically about how you discover more about the world and you while going on a midnight walk by yourself. One line in the poem, “There’s a deal to be learned on a midnight walk, when you take it all alone” Mitski misread it as, “There’s a deal to be made on a midnight walk when you take it all along” and before she realized the error she made, she thought it was an interesting thought: like what kind of deal can you make on a midnight walk?
The song “The Deal” can mean wanting your life to be like someone else or your expectations of yourself, and being willing to give or do anything for your ideals.
“When Memories Snow”:
Mitski got the idea of the music for “When Memories Snow” by playing the piano and experimenting with chords inspired by a show instrument, Japanese Shō (doesn’t follow the Western traditional music rules), which can be heard at the end of the song. The song has two parts inspired by Western movie soundtracks and British invasion rock. The song also pushed Mitski out of her comfort zone because most of her songs are quiet/soft which is an easy range for her.
“When Memories Snow” could be about putting the past behind you and focusing on making new paths/memories, and how the past will always be there to either drag or lift you up.
“My Love Mine All Mine”:
“My Love Mine All Mine” is about how to love is the best thing Mitski ever did, and how beautiful it is. According to a quote from Mitski, this song is better than any song she wrote, material possession she gained, or achievement. Mitski also wishes that after she dies, that the song leaves behind this beautiful love in the world.
Mitski’s first moment of the creation of the song started when she was carrying groceries and singing “my love, my oh my”, which she used that part and recorded everything, that’s how the song “My Love Mine All Mine” started/was created.
“The Frost”:
For the song “The Frost”, the producer, Patrick, and Mitski knew that they both wanted to draw from ‘Americana’ from classic country, folk, and old time music. This made them think they needed a band that was versed in those genres much more, and they were able to successfully find one. They even got Brooke Wagoner on the piano, who also did piano on Mitski’s album ‘Laurel Hell’ from 2022. Mitski and Patrick knew that they wanted the song to be live or have an acoustic feeling to it, so they had to rehearse with the whole band for a day then recorded all the songs they did together the next day.
The song can mean being left behind or falling out with someone, and that the friendship/relationship being put behind or forgotten, also not being able to move on from that person.
“Star”:
“Star” was also an old song, but it started when Mitski went to her friend’s house, playing her acoustic guitar and just started messing around with the track. In the beginning it sounded different from what the track is now currently, the first demos her and her producer made were trying to do a “carpenter thing”, and the demo kind of had the type of swing they looked for.
But the demo felt a bit too happy so they tried a different version that was the same chords but sort of more of like “slow core” or “red house painters thing”, which also didn’t work either and they eventually figured out what’s not working is that there were so many chords per phrase.
They switched to adding a drone just the sustained tonic in the start of the song, and that ended up sounding really good so they built off of that so it started simple with just a sustain, and they decided to keep building off of it, and they took inspiration from Scott Walker at the end of the day.
Both, Mitski and her producer, wanted to add a little subtle orchestration to keep building on it, so they had their orchestrator, Drew Erickson, compose for strings that’s just very subtle, and they also took some parts of the orchestration to support the song instead of taking the spotlight.
The song “Star”, describes two people who are no longer in love, but continues to care about each other partly in memory of the love they had.
“I’m Your Man”:
The process of making this song included Mitski writing it on an acoustic guitar. When she wrote the first half of the song she thought the song was short after listening to it so she had to figure out a way to lengthen it, but the problem was that she didn’t want to add other parts (ex. chorus, bridge, etc). Even though she didn’t want the song to change she decided to add choral voices, which required her getting a choir that sang “yo ho”, that was inspired by pirates and gave her a more masculine feeling that basically led to the intention behind the song. That process also gave the name of the song, “I’m Your Man”.
The song is coming from the perspective of a man in Mitski’s head, basically it’s like the voice of a patriarch in your head because “we” all live in and were raised in a patriarchy. The “masculine voices” in your head depends on, not depending on what gender you are, but in a way of interacting with male figures in your life, and all the messaging you’ve received from the culture and the patriarchy around you. And so the song is to give a voice to that “masculine voice” in Mitski’s head to either help her bring into peace with it or free it up a little bit. This also was inspired by the story of the Buddha and how the Buddha was disturbed while being in peace, but how the Buddha was still kind to their “enemy”.
Mitski wanted to try something similar by just letting the patriarch mind to basically say whatever or doing whatever, which is where the song came from and what the song means too.
“I Love Me After You”:
During the process of “I Love Me After You”, Mitski made a mistake of recording herself of just playing it on an acoustic guitar and singing along. After she listened to the demo over and over, she tried to figure out how the end result track should be, but she struggled of how it should sound.
After she brought it to Patrick, Mitski just wanted the song to just be acoustic guitar and voice since she was so familiar with it which also made her like the song like that. But she knew deep down that the track had potential and how she was just getting in her way, so eventually Patrick convinced her to do the version that it is today. He wanted the song to be like you’re crawling through something slow motion. In terms of making it, they made it faster and slower to get that feeling to see how it can get to that image.
“I Love Me After You” can be about finding freedom from moving on from a failed relationship.
