The Beths – Silence Is Golden: New Song Of The Day

The Beths burst out of the gate rocking with Silence Is Golden, their first new tune from their upcoming album, Expert In A Dying Field.

Yes, you heard correctly. There’s a new Beths song out today and a new Beths album due out on September 16th. Expert In A Dying Field is the follow-up to the much-acclaimed, much-enjoyed, Jump Rope Gazers. And there are NZ Tour Dates!

Here’s what Elizabeth Stokes has to say about Silence Is Golden:

“The song is about stress and anxiety manifesting as an intolerance to noise, where each new sound makes you more and more stressed.”

Ivy League Records are elated to announce the upcoming release of Expert In A Dying Field, the new album from revered New Zealand quartet, The Beths.  The band’s third LP houses 12 jewels of tight, guitar-heavy songs that worm their way into your head, an incandescent collision of power-pop and skuzz. Ahead of the album’s September 16 release, The Beths share their newest single ‘Silence Is Golden’. Filled with Elizabeth Stokes’s acutely cut-to-the-bone lyrics and playfully chaotic, hook-filled melodies, ‘Silence Is Golden’ appropriately foreshadows an album that stands to solidify The Beths’ reputation as masters of their craft.

The Beths also announce a headline tour of down under that will see them play their biggest headline shows in Aotearoa to date with shows in Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and Auckland all of the back of a run of Australia headline dates. All tour dates listed below.

From the first pulsating line of the opening guitar riff, ‘Silence is Golden’ promises to deliver charisma and charm in spades. With a healthy dose of unabashed expression, and the unwaveringly direct and insightful lyricism we have come to expect from Stokes, the song elucidates one of the core realities of what it is to be human – that sometimes, all we want is to escape our own minds. “How are you not hearing it? The sound, I’d burn the city to the ground just to turn it down” Stokes croons. ‘Silence Is Golden’ acts as a lyrical motif, threading its way through the track with rhythmic repetition; like a self-soothing mantra.

On The Beths’ new album Expert In A Dying Field, Stokes’ songwriting positions her somewhere between being a novelist and a documentarian. The songs collected here are autobiographical, but they’re also character sketches of relationships and more importantly, their aftermaths. The question that hangs in the air: what do you do with how intimately versed you’ve become in a person once they’re gone from your life? The album’s title track ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ introduces the thesis for the record: “How does it feel to be an expert in a dying field? How do you know it’s over when you can’t let go?” Stokes asks. “Love is learned over time ‘til you’re an expert in a dying field.”

As in all songs created out of The Beths’ working relationship, including recent 2022 standalone single ‘A Real Thing’, which reached #1 at NZ alt radio, Expert In A Dying Field affirms the deep bond between Stokes, lead guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair and drummer Tristan Deck. Precariously balancing urgency and quiet resolve, the band execute stunning four-part harmonies and bright, raucous guitar hooks without a hitch.

With all this and more under their belts, it is clear the reign of The Beths is set to be a long one. Expert In A Dying Field will be out on digital, CD & a limited edition, deluxe hot pink vinyl (exclusive to Australia & New Zealand) on Friday September 16.

ABOUT THE BETHS
The Beths first created a global stir with their 2018 breakthrough debut album, Future Me Hates Me. Touted by Pitchfork as “one of the most impressive indie-rock debuts of the year”  and attaining a four-star review from Rolling Stone US, the tumultuous, mood-bending, indie-gem saw the four friends from Auckland New Zealand catapulted to international success. Their debut was championed at radio by KEXP, BBC 6Music, triple j, Sirius XMU and featured on countless “best of 2018” lists. Their bright trajectory was resoundingly affirmed by the success of the band’s sophomore album, 2020’s Jump Rope Gazers, which debuted at #2 on The Official NZ Top 40 Album Chart, #1 on Billboard’s New Artist Alt Chart and #54 on the Billboard Top 200. Jump Rope Gazers received widespread radio support internationally, across Australasian community radio and was met with esteemed acclaim from the likes of Stereogum, Vulture, Rolling Stone and NME.

The Beth’s, with their mastery of live performance, have played to sold-out crowds across the globe, and graced the festival stages of Pukkelpop, The Great Escape, SXSW, Primavera, Splendour in the Grass, Latitude Festival and more. The power of The Beths is echoed in critical sphere, where they’ve received three APRA Silver Scroll nominations (2018, 2019, 2021), two Taite Prize nominations (2019, 2021), a Levi’s Music Prize win (2020), two Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards wins (2019: Best Group, Best Alternative Artist) and three Aotearoa Music Awards wins (2020: Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Alternative Artist).

NEW ZEALAND TOUR DATES

NEW ZEALAND:
Fri 23 Sep 22 – Opera House, Wellington, NZ
Sat 24 Sep 22 – Theatre Royal, Nelson, NZ
Fri 30 Sep 22 – James Hay Theatre, Christchurch, NZ
Sat 1 Oct 22 – Glenroy, Dunedin, NZ
Fri 7 Oct 22 – Auckland Town Hall, Auckland, NZ

Tickets on sale Tues 21 June – all information HERE

Here’s the tracklist for Expert In A Dying Field

01 “Expert In A Dying Field”
02 “Knees Deep”
03 “Silence Is Golden”
04 “Your Side”
05 “I Want To Listen”
06 “Head In The Clouds”
07 “Best Left”
08 “Change In The Weather”
09 “When You Know You Know”
10 “A Passing Rain”
11 “I Told You That I Was Afraid”
12 “2AM”