Nobody is doing it like Mitski: A Review of Working for the Knife

“I cry at the start of every movie/ I guess ‘cause I wish I was making things too.”

Mitski’s Working for the Knife begins with a wistful reflection on the bittersweet experience of viewing art as an artist, with high expectations of your own success. As Zia Anger, director of Working for the Knife’s music video notes, ‘pure artistic intentions have become tangled in a rotten system. Most likely nobody – even the people holding the purse strings – are doing what they set out to do’.

Image: Mitski - Working for the Knife Youtube Video

Mitski is torn between the reality of the industry and her passion to create. Through a cool colour scheme, metaphor and symbolism, the Working for the Knife music video grapples with juxtaposing ideas.

Mitski, silhouetted, donned in her cowboy hat, wanders into a concert hall with an ominous silence, the only sound the echo of her heels. Illuminated in her last album Be the Cowboy, the cowboy is a symbol that inspires confidence for Mitski. Mitski scowls, and puts her cowboy finger down, shedding her hat and shoes, revealing her at her most vulnerable.

Although intimate, the audience is not to get too comfortable, as Mitski licks a wooden staircase after singing ‘I used to think I would tell stories/ But nobody cared for the stories.’ Simulated facial expressions and hand movements are acted out to critique the notion of the entertainer, as though she must be alike to a puppet, ready to enthral, creating unease when paired with the sombre, gloomy tone of Mitski’s voice.

Image: Mitski - Working for the Knife Youtube Video

A powerful, synth-heavy instrumental as the camera follows Mitski’s fast movements reinforces the spectacle of the performer.

The performance hall engulfs Mitski, and she is left writhing on the floor, the spotlight searching for her when she realises ‘I start the day lying and end with the truth/ That I’m dying for the knife.’ The metaphor of the knife is concluded; the system that suffocates her is also one in which she must play a role.

After a long hiatus, Working for the Knife sets high expectations for Mitski’s upcoming release, sure to touch a chord with avid listeners and new fans alike.

Image: Mitski - Working for the Knife Youtube Video

You can watch Mitski, Working for the Knife at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYbXt4_r9Pw

By Rozz Cottrell