The Beths
Fronted by their main songwriter, Elizabeth Stokes, New Zealand indie rock group the Beths combine energized guitar riffs, melodic hooks, and harmonized backing vocals in their impulsive, distinctly self-deprecating music. Having already won fans as a live act, the band released their first album, Future Me Hates Me, in 2018. Their 2021 live album Auckland, New Zealand, 2020 featured earworms from the debut and follow-up Jump Rope Gazers. The Beths completed their third long-player, 2022's anxious Expert in a Dying Field, in a Los Angeles studio while on tour. It reached number one on the New Zealand album charts.
Stokes (vocals, guitar) went to high school with Jonathan Pearce (guitar), and they later met Benjamin Sinclair (bass) and Ivan Luketina-Johnston (drums) while all four were studying jazz at the University of Auckland. The Beths materialized when the friends were playing together and began revisiting the punk-pop of their youth. They liked the results and made their recording debut in 2016 with the Pearce-produced Warm Blood EP. The Beths quickly built a reputation across Australia and New Zealand for their lively shows. Carpark Records took note and reissued Warm Blood to an international audience in 2018, the same year they released the Beths' full-length debut, Future Me Hates Me. Maintaining the grungy edge and infectiousness of their earliest songs, it was also produced by Pearce.
The band soon won over indie titans such as Death Cab for Cutie, the Breeders, and Pixies, all of whom created opening slots for the Beths on tours following the debut. Meanwhile, Tristan Deck replaced Luketina-Johnston as the group's drummer. Following 18 months on the road, they sequestered themselves to write and record their second album. Without ceding any catchiness, the Pearce-produced Jump Rope Gazers followed on Carpark in 2020. Highlights from both of their first two LPs were featured on the 13-track live album Auckland, New Zealand, 2020 the following year. They were already working on songs for their third studio LP when New Zealand began a four-month lockdown to combat COVID-19 in the latter half of 2021. The group re-emerged the following February for a U.S. tour that included a three-day mixing session in Los Angeles to complete songs tracked mostly at Pearce's studio in Auckland, with finishing touches captured on the road. The resulting anxious, 12-song Expert in a Dying Field saw release in September 2022, and became their first chart-topping album in their home country. The single "Watching the Credits" appeared in 2023.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo
Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Expert In A Dying Field
Alternative & Indie - Released by Carpark Records on 16 Sep 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Brand New Colony / We Looked Like Giants
The Beths, Pickle Darling, Car Seat Headrest
Rock - Released by Sub Pop Records on 12 Oct 2023
Available in24-Bit/88 kHz Stereo -
Future Me Hates Me
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 10 Aug 2018
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Jump Rope Gazers
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 10 Jul 2020
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Warm Blood
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 11 Mar 2016
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 30 Nov 2018
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Watching The Credits
Alternative & Indie - Released by Carpark Records on 28 Mar 2023
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Expert In A Dying Field
Alternative & Indie - Released by Carpark Records on 15 Jul 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
A Real Thing
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 9 Feb 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Auckland, New Zealand, 2020
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 17 Sep 2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
I Told You That I Was Afraid (Acoustic)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Carpark Records on 13 Jul 2023
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Out of Sight
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 16 Jun 2020
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
I'm Not Getting Excited / Dying to Believe
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 12 May 2020
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Silence Is Golden
Alternative & Indie - Released by Carpark Records on 14 Jun 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Happy Unhappy
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 6 Jun 2018
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Out of Sight / I'm Not Getting Excited / Dying to Believe
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 16 Jun 2020
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Future Me Hates Me - Live
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 10 Aug 2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Great No One
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 17 Jul 2018
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Knees Deep
Alternative & Indie - Released by Carpark Records on 17 Aug 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Future Me Hates Me
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 9 May 2018
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
I'm Not Getting Excited
Alternative & Indie - Released by carpark on 13 May 2020
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo