\u201cWe sound possessed on these songs,\u201d says guitarist\/vocalist Carrie Brownstein about Sleater-Kinney\u2019s eighth studio album, No Cities to Love. \u201cWilling it all\u2013the entire weight of the band and what it means to us\u2013back into existence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new record is the first in 10 years from the acclaimed trio\u2013Brownstein, vocalist\/guitarist Corin Tucker, and drummer Janet Weiss\u2013who came crashing out of the \u201990s Pacific Northwest riot grrrl scene, setting a new bar for punk\u2019s political insight and emotional impact. Formed in Olympia, WA in 1994, Sleater-Kinney were hailed as \u201cAmerica\u2019s best rock band\u201d by Greil Marcus in Time Magazine, and put out seven searing albums in 10 years before going on indefinite hiatus in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the new album isn\u2019t about reminiscing, it\u2019s about reinvention\u2013the ignition of an unparalleled chemistry to create new sounds and tell new stories. \u201cI always considered Corin and Carrie to be musical soulmates in the tradition of the greats,\u201d says Weiss, whose drums fuel the fire of Tucker and Brownstein\u2019s vocal and guitar interplay. \u201cSomething about taking a break brought them closer, desperate to reach together again for their true expression.\u201d The result is a record that grapples with love, power and redemption without restraint. \u201cThe three of us want the same thing,\u201d says Weiss. \u201cWe want the songs to be daunting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Produced by long-time Sleater-Kinney collaborator John Goodmanson, who helmed many of the band\u2019s earlier albums including 1997 breakout set Dig Me Out, No Cities to Love is indeed formidable from the first beat. Lead track \u201cPrice Tag\u201d is a pounding anthem about greed and the human cost of capitalism, establishing both the album\u2019s melodic drive and its themes of power and powerlessness\u2013giving voice, as Tucker says, to those who \u201cstruggle to be heard against the dominant culture or status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBury Our Friends\u201d has Tucker and Brownstein joining vocal forces, locking arms to defeat a pressing fear of insignificance. It\u2019s also emblematic of the band\u2019s give and take, and commitment to working and reworking each song until it\u2019s as strong as it can be. \u201c\u2018Bury Our Friends\u2019 was written in the 11th hour,\u201d says Tucker. \u201cCarrie had her great chime-y guitar riff, but we had gone around in circles with how to make that part into a cohesive song. I think Carrie finally cracked the chorus idea and yelled, \u2018Sing with me!\u2019\u201d \u201cA New Wave\u201d similarly went through many iterations during the writing process, with five or six potential choruses, before crystallizing. It enters with an insistent guitar riff, and a battle between acceptance and defiance\u2013\u201cEvery day I throw a little party,\u201d howls Brownstein, \u201cbut a fit would be more fitting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The album\u2019s meditative title track was inspired by the trend of atomic tourism and its function as a metaphor for someone enthralled and impressed by power. \u201cThat form of power, that presence, is not only destructive it\u2019s also hollowed-out, past its prime,\u201d says Brownstein. \u201cThe character in that song has made a ritual out of seeking structures and people in which to find strength, yet they keep coming up empty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sleater-Kinney\u2019s decade apart made room for family and other fruitful collaborations, as well as an understanding of what the band\u2019s singular chemistry demands. \u201cCreativity is about where you want your blood to flow, because in order to do something meaningful and powerful there has to be life inside of it,\u201d says Brownstein. \u201cSleater-Kinney isn\u2019t something you can do half-assed or half-heartedly. We have to really want it. This band requires a certain desperation, a direness. We have to be willing to push because the entity that is this band will push right back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe core of this record is our relationship to each other, to the music, and how all of us still felt strongly enough about those to sweat it out in the basement and to try and reinvent our band,\u201d adds Tucker. With No Cities to Love, \u201cwe went for the jugular.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013Evie Nagy <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWe sound possessed on these songs,\u201d says guitarist\/vocalist Carrie Brownstein about Sleater-Kinney\u2019s eighth studio album, No Cities to Love. \u201cWilling it all\u2013the entire weight of the band and what it means to us\u2013back into existence.\u201d The new record is the first in 10 years from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[593,1295],"class_list":["post-6857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-alternative","tag-sleater-kinney","post_format-post-format-audio"],"yoast_head":"\n