Ever Improvising: New Zealand’s The Beths Grapple with “Existential Vertigo” with Straight Line Was A Lie
Label: ANTI-
Released: August 29, 2025
By Liam Owen
As I get older, I increasingly believe that no one actually knows what they’re doing. Life’s uncertainties and complications combine to make each struggle individual-specific. Others can know what we are going through but simultaneously have no idea. Parents you once thought had everything figured out were actually just as clueless as we are, and even now are still improvising. I am not the only one who feels this way. In fact, it is a belief central to Straight Line Was a Lie, the fourth album of New Zealand indie-rockers The Beths who stated that “existential vertigo” serves as its primary theme.
The lyrics throughout make this clear: “I thought I was getting better but I’m back to where I started…I don’t know if I can go round again.” “I’m only here to feed mosquitoes. Only flesh, only blood.” “I wanna feel but I am failing. I wanted to cry but I couldn’t.” “Screaming through a roundabout that I love you then like I love you now. There’s nothing to be scared about.” The realization that personal growth is cyclical and unending can send one’s thoughts spiraling. Thankfully, The Beths managed to put theirs on the page.
The musicality combined with these reflections makes each track compelling. “Mosquitoes” is a walk through the forest in your childhood backyard while attempting to reconcile your existence. “No Joy” and its Olivia Rodrigo vibe is a relatively short but catchy tune that cannot help but make a home in your head. “Roundabout” and “Til My Heart Stops” both feel like the rush of endorphins when you first see the one you love. “Mother, Pray For Me,” with its finger-picked guitar part and heartbreaking lyrics, is the emotional core of the album. Stokes said, “I cried the whole time writing it.” Well, I cried most of the time listening to it, so I suppose we’re even.
Every band member contributed greatly to the crisp and lovely sound of the record, especially Stokes and drummer Tristan Deck. Stokes’ vocals, highlighting her beautiful accent, provide even more individuality to her poetic and personal prose. Deck’s wonderful ability to dial it back or go full throttle as the song demands provides the necessary backbone to every track. The band’s blend of individual voices calling out through their instruments creates a sound palette that is fresh, captivating and satisfying.
“Linear progression is an illusion,” Stokes notes, “What life really is is maintenance, and finding meaning in the maintenance.” There is no race to the finish line when it comes to personal development. There will be tasks you didn’t get to on or near the day you die. A receptionist recently remarked to me, “When you get older, you feel like a broken-down car. One day this breaks, the next day that needs to be fixed.” The goal of one’s life shouldn’t be to eliminate this frustrating cycle. This is futile. Instead, one only has to continue to put one foot in front of the other and make the choice to live.