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Scoop
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scoop
The Beths Announce New Album 'Straight Line Was A Lie' & Release New Single 'No Joy'
The Beths — the Auckland based quartet of vocalist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck — announce their new album, Straight Line Was A Lie —their first for their new label ANTI —out August 29th, and share the new single/video, 'No Joy.' The Beths know the futility of straight lines. Existential vertigo serves as the primary theme on the indie heroes' fourth album. The Beths posit that the only way round is through; that even after going through difficult, transformative experiences, you can still feel as though you've ended up in the same place. It's a bewildering thing, realising that life and personal growth are cyclical and continual. That a chapter doesn't always end with peace and acceptance. That the approach is simply continuing to try, to show up. 'Linear progression is an illusion,' Stokes explains. 'What life really is is maintenance. But you can find meaning in the maintenance.' The path from The Beths' 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. ' I was kind of dealing with a new brain, and I feel like I write very instinctually,' she says. ' It was kind of like my instincts were just a little different, they weren't as panicky.' While Stokes felt a huge relief from taking an SSRI, she articulates the emotional trade-offs on today's single, 'No Joy,' which thunders in with Deck's vigorous percussion and drops another classic Beths soundbite: 'This year's gonna kill me/ Gonna kill me.' Ironically, though, the stress Stokes sings about can't touch her, thanks to her pharmaceutical regimen. She wants the feeling back. " It's about anhedonia, which, paradoxically, was there both in the worst parts of depression, and then also when I was feeling pretty numb on my SSRI,' Stokes says. ' It wasn't that I was sad, I was feeling pretty good. It was just that I didn't like the things that I liked. I wasn't getting joy from them. It's very literal.' In writing Straight Line Was A Lie, Stokes and Pearce broke down the typical Beths writing process. For inspiration, they read Stephen King's On Writing, How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner, and Working by Robert A. Caro. Liz broke out a Remington typewriter (a birthday gift from Beths bassist Benjamin Sinclair) every morning for a month, writing 10 pages' worth of material — mostly streams of consciousness. The resulting stack of paper was the primary fodder for an extended writing retreat to Los Angeles between tours, where Stokes and Pearce also leaned heavily into LA's singular creative atmosphere, went to shows, watched Criterion classics from Kurosawa, and listened to Drive-By Truckers, The Go-Go's, and Olivia Rodrigo. Opening themselves up to a wave of creative input, plus Stokes' free-flowing writing routine, proved therapeutic. ' Writing so much down forced me to look at stuff that I didn't want to look at,' Stokes says. ' In the past, in my memories. Things I normally don't like to think about or I'm scared to revisit, I'm putting them down on paper and thinking about them, addressing them.' Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with wryly knowing song titles like 'Future Me Hates Me' and 'Expert In A Dying Field' — 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. Following Liz Stokes's recent, sold–out solo show at Largo in Los Angeles with special guests Roz Hernandez, Courtney Barnett and Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), The Beths announced a world tour across North America, the UK and Europe this fall. They'll headline some of their biggest venues to date, 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, and tickets are now available here.
Zawya
25-02-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Global experts and policymakers convene at KPMG's Public Sector Excellence Forum 2025 in Riyadh
The event featured ten thought-provoking sessions with over 25 local and international speakers across high-profile panel discussions and fireside chats on AI-driven transformation, economic sustainability, and public sector innovation. KPMG launched the Blueprint for Intelligent Economies, a strategic framework designed to help governments leverage technology and innovation to enhance economic resilience and governance effectiveness. Riyadh – Public sector officials, industry experts, and policymakers gathered in Riyadh for the Public Sector Excellence Forum 2025, hosted by KPMG Middle East. Under the theme, "Governing with impact: Delivering public value," the forum explored leadership, technology, sustainability, and risk resilience, shaping the future of governance. At the opening of the event, Dr. Abdullah Al Fozan, CEO at KPMG Middle East, emphasized cross-institution collaboration as critical to public sector success, stating, "Excellence in the public sector is not just an end goal but an ongoing process that requires a clear vision, effective collaboration, and shared commitment. Challenges exist, but when efforts are united and institutions work together, they can easily be overcome." High-profile speakers from Saudi Arabia's public sector included H.E. Dr. Munir Eldesouki, President of KACST, who was interviewed by entrepreneur Mansour Alsanooni on how great leaders inspire action, and Eng. Suliman AlRumaih, Group CEO of SALIC who delved deeper into securing food, water, and energy sustainability. Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg, Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen and author of the groundbreaking study on project management, 'How Big Things Get Done,' took a data-driven approach to large-scale projects and presented critical insights into the successful delivery of such projects. The panel on capabilities – one of the four foundational themes of technology, sustainability and risk – featured H.E. Dr. Bander Alsajjan, Director General at the Institute of Public Administration, Dr. Mohammed Alabdulaali, Assistant Minister at Ministry of Health and H.E. Hekia Parata, Former New Zealand Minister of Education, Minister of Energy and Resources, and Minister for Women, who discussed how to build exceptional leaders during exceptional times. Ismail Alani, Head of Government and Public Sector at KPMG Middle East who also sat on the panel, emphasized the importance of foresight in public sector leadership, 'Exceptional leadership is not about reacting to change but anticipating it. In today's rapidly evolving world, public sector leaders must embrace agility, innovation, and strategic foresight to drive meaningful impact.' Further, the Blueprint for Intelligent Economies was launched and introduced by KPMG's Global Head of Government, Brenda Walker and Maz Hussain, Head of AI for KPMG Middle East. The publication, co-developed by KPMG and the World Economic Forum, presents a framework that focuses on AI-driven economies in which the technology is leveraged for the public good. The technology panel explored human capital and AI-driven governance models – emphasizing AI adoption, workforce upskilling, and cybersecurity in public sector transformation, while the sustainability panel discussed financing models for sustainable development – and featured Eng. Hashim Al Dabbagh, CEO as Aseer Development Authority and Stephen Beatty, Chairman of the Advisory Board at the National Center for Privatization. The fourth theme, risk, was approached with two sessions, on predictive risk management tools, and the anticipation of systemic shocks – black swans and unknown unknowns, featuring Dr. Mohammed Aldhoayan from the National Cybersecurity Authority as global KPMG experts in dynamic risk assessments and geopolitics. POLITICO Executive Editor Anne McElvoy and Adrian Monck, Senior Adviser to Abu Dhabi's Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence moderated the forum's sessions. Hanan Alowain, Partner in the Government and Public Sector at KPMG Middle East, closed the event by reflecting on the forum's insights, emphasizing the shared commitment to progress, resilience, and collective prosperity.
