Tag: Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney returned in January with their first release in three years, Little Rope.  It’s their second release as a duo after the departure of drummer Janet Weiss. Part of this album was written after the tragedy of Carrie Brownstein losing her Mom and Step Dad in a terrible car accident. Guitars dominate the album including the ringing guitars on “Crusader” and the urgency of “Small Finds” where the breathy vocals sing from a dog’s perspective.

“I stood outside your house last night” is a menacing line taken from “Six Mistakes” that also has plenty of fuzzy guitar licks thrown in which is in contrast to the pop sheen on the chorus of “Say It Like You Mean It”. On this release, there are too many songs like first single “Hell” that has a good punk rock stomp for the middle bits but is otherwise unmemorable. On Little Rope, Brownstein and Corin Tucker produce several good moments but is held back by a lack of truly great songs to put on repeat.

7/10

The release of Sleater-Kinney’s ninth studio album in August 2019 was overshadowed by the sudden departure of longtime member Janet Weiss. Produced by St Vincent, The Center Won’t Hold saw Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker wanting to move the band in a different direction with less input from Weiss who decided to exit.

You can hear some of the St. Vincent influence on tracks such as “Bad Dance” which for the first few listens I heard as “Bat Dance”.  Upbeat and raucous with distorted vocals, the band shouts the chorus. First single “Hurry On Home” could be about politics or a relationship with lyrics that ask to “disconnect me from my bones so I can roam”.  At times it sounds a bit like Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  Second single “Can I Go On” has a distorted 50s sound with a bridge that ups the dance factor.  The chorus on penultimate song, “The Dog / The Body” is genuinely uplifting which is in sharp contrast to the title track that is slower and more vicious.

The best tracks here are the more straightforward ones like “Reach Out” that rides a great groove and the laid-back guitar sound of “Restless”. The album closes with spare piano and a moving vocal from Corin Tucker on “Broken”, a song that sounds lifted from an 80s RnB single. There are a few skippable moments and it is a curious decision to relegate a powerhouse drummer like Janet Weiss to the sidelines.  However, it would be hard to discount whatever musical plans Brownstein and Tucker have next.

7.5/10