Mitski is known and loved for the emotional immediacy and intensity of her songs. “I’m Your Man,” a song about a relationship that’s not working from her latest LP The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, is an exercise in lethal sharpness delivered with restraint. Deep in a reverberant space, over some spare percussion and strummed acoustic guitar, she gently sings: “You believe me like a god / I betray you like a man.”
In a new performance video filmed for La Blogothèque, Mitski visits a concert hall that's not currently open to wander the lobby and halls and sing “I’m Your Man” on her own. Being unoccupied makes the spot, which seems old in a “they don’t make them like that anymore” kind of way, feel imposing and forbidding. Midway through, appropriately around the time she sings “I’ll meet judgment by the hounds,” some dogs barking in the distance interrupt her for a moment; to avoid spoiling things too much, let’s say there’s a suggestion this was a guerrilla filmmaking affair.
It’s a striking clip, which offers a reminder of how much Mitski can do with just a minimal stage setup, as fans saw when she made an adopted-hometown stop at the Ryman in 2022. (Or, when she dropped in to play a few songs during a Land Is Inhospitable listening party and screening of Midnight Cowboy at the Belcourt.) Mitski’s gearing up for a tour that brings her back to the Mother Church for a four-night run April 10 through 13. Sarah Kinsley supports on April 10, Sunny War on April 11, Julia Jacklin on April 12 and Cowboy Junkies on April 13; tickets are available now.
