New Music - The Beths release 'Straight Line Was A Lie' - 29th August 2025

Photo credit: Frances Carter

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Artist Name - The Beths

Release Name - Straight Line Was A Line

Release Date - 29th August 2025

Genre - Indie Rock, Alt Rock, Alternative-Indie

Label - Anti-

“[Liz Stokes] sings with humble honesty.” - The New York Times, on “Mother, Pray For Me”

"...a more insightful, introspective album than anything the band has released in the past—though Stokes’ clever lyrics are still front and center." - A.V. Club

"They make it sound so simple. Liz Stokes is a master of the crunchy, three-minute earworm that smooshes happy and sad together into a delicious pop PB&J." - Brooklyn Vegan

"So far we’ve heard 'Metal' and 'No Joy,' both of which are sonically upbeat and lyrically conflicted. With…'Mother, Pray For Me,' the Auckland indie rock outfit is going full tearjerker mode." - Stereogum

The Beths — the Auckland based quartet of Elizabeth Stokes (vocals/guitar), Jonathan Pearce (guitar), Benjamin Sinclair (bass), and Tristan Deck (drums) release their new album Straight Line Was A Lie today via ANTI-. Just two weeks ago, they gave fans an electrifying preview of the record with a high-energy performance as part of Infinity Sessions at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios in Tāmaki Makaurau. Now stateside, the band are celebrating the release with sold-out shows at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom and Los Angeles’ Bob Baker Marionette Theatre.

The path from The Beths’ New Zealand #1, critically celebrated and year-end-list-topping 2022 album Expert In A Dying Field to Straight Line Was A Lie was anything but straightforward. For the first time, Stokes was struggling to write new songs beyond fragments she’d recorded on her phone. She’d recently started taking an SSRI, which on one hand made her feel like she could “fix” everything broken in her life, from her mental and physical health to fraught family dynamics. At the same time, writing wasn’t coming as easily as it had before.

With Straight Line Was A Lie, Stokes and Pearce broke down the typical Beths writing process, opening themselves up to a wave of creative input, with Stokes’ free-flowing writing routine proving to be therapeutic. Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with catchy, instant-classic turns of phrase that capture the personal and ladder up to the universal. But Stokes’ intentional deconstruction and rebuilding of her relationship to writing, however, has resulted in a complete renewal. Her songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability, making Straight Line Was A Lie the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date.  

Straight Line Was A Lie by The Beths out now via ANTI-
Purchase/Stream HERE

Next month, The Beths will embark on their 55 date northern hemisphere tour starting in the UK and Europe. Come October, they’ll headline some of their biggest venues to date in the U.S, including The Wiltern in Los Angeles, The Fillmore in San Francisco, The Salt Shed in Chicago, Brooklyn Paramount in New York City, Union Transfer in Philadelphia, 9:30 Club in Washington, DC and more. A full list of dates is below. 

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

The Beths Tour Dates:
Wed. Sept. 17 - Dublin, IE @ Button Factory ! 
Thu. Sept. 18 - Dublin, IE @ Button Factory ! [SOLD OUT]
Sat. Sept. 20 - Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall !
Sun. Sept. 21 - Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 TV Studio !
Mon. Sept. 22 - Leeds, UK @ Project House !
Wed. Sept. 24 - Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy !
Thu. Sept. 25 - Birmingham, UK @ XOYO !
Fri. Sept. 26 - London, UK @ Roundhouse !
Sat. Sept. 27 - Brighton, UK @ CHALK !
Mon. Sept. 29 - Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix !
Tue. Sept. 30 - Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo !
Wed. Oct. 1 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique !
Fri. Oct. 3 - Cologne, DE @ Kantine !
Sat. Oct. 4 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso !
Sun. Oct. 5 - Hamburg, DE @ Knust !
Tue. Oct. 7 - Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan !
Wed. Oct. 8 Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret Scene !
Thu. Oct. 9 - Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset !
Sat. Oct. 11 - Berlin, DE @ Lido !
Sun. Oct. 12 - Munich, DE @ Strom !
Mon. Oct. 13 - Zurich, CH @ Plaza !
Wed. Oct. 15 - Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz 2 !
Thu. Oct. 16 - Madrid, ES @ Nazca !
Fri. Oct. 17 - Lisbon, PT @ LAV !
Thu. Oct. 30 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel*
Fri. Oct. 31 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
Sat. Nov 1 - Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl *
Mon. Nov. 3 - Dallas, TX @ The Studio At The Bomb Factory *
Tue. Nov. 4 - Austin, TX @ Emo's *
Thu. Nov. 6 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren *
Fri. Nov. 7 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern * ^
Sat. Nov. 8 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore * [SOLD OUT]
Sun. Nov. 9 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore *  
Wed. Nov. 12 - Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades *
Fri. Nov. 14 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom *
Sat. Nov. 15 - Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre *
Sun. Nov. 16 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom *
Tue. Nov. 18 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall *
Wed. Nov. 19 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre *
Fri. Nov. 21 - Kansas City, MO @ The Truman *
Sat. Nov. 22 - St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre *
Sun. Nov. 23 - Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed (Indoor) * +
Tue. Nov 25 - Cleveland, OH @ Globe Iron *
Wed. Nov. 26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre *
Fri. Nov. 27 - Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall * 
Fri. Nov. 28 - Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall *  [SOLD OUT]
Sat. Nov. 29 - Montreal, QC @ Beanfield Theatre *
Mon. Dec. 1 - Boston, MA @ Royale * 
Tue. Dec. 2 - Boston, MA @ Royale * [SOLD OUT]
Wed. Dec. 3 - Providence, RI @ Fete Music Hall *
Fri. Dec. 5 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount * #
Sat. Dec. 6 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer * [SOLD OUT]
Sun. Dec. 7 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer * 
Tue. Dec. 9 - Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club * [SOLD OUT]
Wed. Dec. 10 - Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club * [SOLD OUT]

! w/ Dateline
* w/ Phoebe Rings 
^ w/ Bret McKenzie
+ w/ Squirrel Flower
# w/ illuminati hotties

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