Mitski - Puberty 2 Mitski

The follow-up to 2014's Bury Me At Makeout Creek - which was hailed by Pitchfork as “a complex 10-song story [containing] some of the most nuanced, complex and articulate music that's come from the indiesphere in a while,” - Puberty 2 picks up where its predecessor left off. Musically, there are subtle evolutions: electronic drum pads pulse throughout, underneath fervent guitar lines.

The 25-year-old cuts the same defiant, feminist figure on Puberty 2 that won her acclaim last time around. Born in Japan, Mitski grew up surrounded by her father's Smithsonian folk recordings and mother's 1970s Japanese pop CDs in a family that moved frequently: she spent stints in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malaysia, China and Turkey among other countries before coming to New York to study composition at SUNY Purchase.

Sadness is awful and happiness is exhausting in the world of Mitski. The effect of Puberty 2 however is a stark opposite: invigorating, inspiring and beautiful. It was put together with the help of long-term accomplice Patrick Hyland, with every instrument played between the two of them.