For a band such as Sleater-Kinney, I guess this record is a pretty radical departure form their previous sound. I mean, normally you do not expect bands like this to change their sound much record to record.
The songs are perhaps a little more sophisticated, though I’m not sure that’s it, though they’re definitely different. I’m not sure replacing chords with individual notes actually means it’s more sophisticated. I guess it just sounds that way to me.
The lyrics are effective, as ever. I’ve never thought too hard about their lyrics because of their performances – I have a high tolerance for bad lyrics if the performance is good – but also because I think the female perspective is pretty underrepresented in music, especially this kind of music. But when I do pay attention, they always strike me as good enough.
The real draw, as always, is the performances. Here, they are slower, more subdued than most of their previous songs. It’s a relatively radical change, as I said earlier, and it works entirely.
As usual, I like the way the record sounds. I’ve yet to heart one of their albums with distracting production, something I always appreciate, especially when so much of the appeal of the music relies on the energy of the performances.
Good stuff.
8/10
All music composed by Sleater-Kinney.
- “Start Together” 2:38
- “Hot Rock” 3:17
- “The End of You” 3:20
- “Burn, Don’t Freeze” 3:19
- “God Is a Number” 3:44
- “Banned from the End of the World” 2:09
- “Don’t Talk Like” 3:04
- “Get Up” 3:46
- “One Song for You” 2:49
- “The Size of Our Love” 3:12
- “Living in Exile” 2:31
- “Memorize Your Lines” 3:10
- “A Quarter to Three” 4:03
- Carrie Brownstein – guitar, vocals
- Corin Tucker – vocals, guitar
- Janet Weiss – drums, percussion, vocals
Additional Musicians:
- Seth Warren – violin on “The Size of Our Love” and “Memorize Your Lines”
- Roger Moutenot – slide guitar on “A Quarter to Three”