Mitski: ’Francis Forever’ SXSW 2016 | NPR MUSIC FRONT ROW

We have the benefit of hindsight when it comes to 1950s and ’60s pop music. Songs about motorcycle crashes and broken hearts sound quaint now, but the sweet harmonies and four-on-the-floor beats reflected real anxieties of teens and twentysomethings. Mitski Miyawaki — who records under her first name — makes music that looks to that era, both in style and substance. The 25-year-old Brooklyn songwriter channels the “pop“ reflection of everyday trauma. This is realness, often riddled with feedback, but more often sung in quiet and determined desperation. This is why when she played our SXSW showcase, you could be forgiven in thinking that her songs about loss, heartbreak, aimlessness and identity carry a dark weight. Largely culling from 2014’s Bury Me At Makeout Creek, Mitski’s set was spare in its instrumentation, but cavernous in emotion. “Townie,“ the particularly doomy “I Don’t Smoke“ and the feedback-squealing closer “Drunk Walk Home“ derailed