- For such a glorious display of power pop, parts of me feel like I was snooping on a journal while listening to this new record from The Beths. While listening to Expert In A Dying Field, you’re drawn in by superbly crafted songs but on occasion, you’ll come across a sentence or two written like a relationship Coroner's report. Post realisation, its like you stumbled on to something you should not have. The more these cohesive narrative threads emerge, the more you are engaged by it. Encased in what may seem like a downer listen as I’ve just described, the New Zealand quartet have reached full flight on their third record and it’s a truly august site to behold.

The titular and opening song bares the record’s theme and does a great deal of groundwork. Just as a good opener should. When it contains the truly sublime line of “I can close the door on us / but the room still exists / and I know you’re in it”, you have to sit back and marvel. The canon vocals in the subdued chorus births a more emphatic tail end. The Beths front load this record with their lead singles and I think that’s a great move. Silence Is Golden and Knees Deep are fantastic, and I’m intentionally short changing them because boy do I wanna talk about the following song. Dude, I think that Your Side is hands down my favourite song of the year. Everything about it is just so perfect. It’s a nostalgic reimagining of how the relationship should have gone. A steady pace rhythm section maintains one speed the whole time. A sliver of chorus is teased early on, a trick The Beths use often and deftly, so when it arrives in full, it shines. The dynamic changes only during these moments and the vocal doubling lacquers a dreamy vibe over the forlorn whole.

Best Left To Rot acquiesces finality with a hefty serving of phased guitars which dominates an otherwise low key song. Gang vocals seem like they’re trying to convince themselves to accept fate as much they are the listener. The very '90’s pair of When You Know You Know and A Passing Rain give the back end of the record a strong edge to them thanks to some upped drive. The former opens with filtered out drums and acoustic guitars alluding to how the song will pan out. The latter has a more pronounced energy, truly putting the power in power pop. It revels in the joy of a fuzz pedal as the choppy riffs push through. Returning to nostalgia to send us on our way, 2am is a twinkly Mid-West emo that wanders calmly away.

On Charli XCX’s podcast Best Song Ever, Phoebe Bridgers gushed over The Beths saying they bring her unbridled joy. Beneath the poppy veneers, there’s endless tales that strike a nerve. You come for the power pop perfection. You stay for the catharsis. The Beths are experts when it comes to this field. I simply hope their field isn’t dying any time soon. It’s far too treasured to be going out like that.

- Matt Lynch.