Be the Cowboy, Mitski's fifth album, arrived on Friday (August 17) and is described by Pitchfork as her greatest to date, with the power to make the complex seem dazzlingly clear.

The review recalls that, before picking up a guitar for 2014's Bury Me at Makeout Creek, Mitski Miyawaki's instrument of choice was the piano, which she played on the two records she made as a studio composition student.

According to the review, the new album radiates assurance. Where 2016's Puberty 2 was drenched in distortion, here she and longtime producer Patrick Hyland avoid the sound almost entirely, using noise only when it is purposeful.