Jump Rope Gazers is the follow-up to Future Me Hates Me “one of the most impressive indie-rock debuts of the year” (Pitchfork). The album received glowing praise and appeared on many year-end lists including Rolling Stone, NPR, Stereogum, and more. The album saw The Beths awarded Best Alternative Act and Best Group at the 2019 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards. The Beths were also finalists for last year’s Taite Prize and Silver Scroll Award in 2018 and 2019.
Jump Rope Gazers tackles themes of anxiety and self-doubt with effervescent power pop choruses and rousing backup vocals, zeroing in on the communality and catharsis that can come from sharing stressful situations with some of your best friends.
After touring non-stop for a year and a half, playing to crowds of devoted fans and opening for acts like Pixies and Death Cab for Cutie, The Beths regrouped to write and record Jump Rope Gazers. The band - composed of Elizabeth Stokes (vocals/guitar), Jonathan Pearce (guitar), Benjamin Sinclair (bass), and Tristan Deck (drums) - settled down at Pearce’s Auckland studio, where he recorded and produced the album.
Touring far from home, The Beths committed to taking care of each other while simultaneously trying to take care of friends living thousands of miles away. That care and attention shines through on Jump Rope Gazers, where the quartet sounds more locked in than ever. Jump Rope Gazers stares down all the hard parts of living in communion with other people, even at a distance, while celebrating the ferocious joy that makes it all worth it.
Tracklisting
- I’m Not Getting Excited
- Dying to Believe
- Jump Rope Gazers
- Acrid
- Do You Want Me Now
- Out of Sight
- Don’t Go Away
- Mars, the God of War
- You Are a Beam of Light
- Just Shy of Sure