Albums of the Year 2025: #98

New Zealand indie rock heroes The Beths latest album Straight Line Was A Lie is a catchy, instant classic out on Anti. Written in Los Angeles and self-recorded in the band's hometown of Auckland, Straight Line Was A Lie (their first release for ANTI-) follows 2022's critically celebrated LP Expert in A Dying Field.

Lead singer and songwriter Liz Stokes delves deeper into her psyche to address everything from roundabout progress to physical and mental health challenges, and fraught family dynamics. Inspired by The Go-Go's, Olivia Rodrigo, filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and Stephen King's On Writing, amongst others, Stokes' songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability.

Fans will agree that Straight Line Was A Lie is the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date.