Fast forward

MUSIC BROUGHT Kathleen Hanna back to life. Stricken by late-stage Lyme disease – a longundiagnosed condition which ended her noughties feminist disco trio Le Tigre – Hanna’s recovery was nourished by reviving her solo alias Julie Ruin in band form, with the addition of four friends including Kathi Wilcox, the bassist from Bikini Kill, the Olympia, WA collective which made Hanna a figurehead for the ’90s Riot Grrrl movement. Established without any agenda beyond aiding recuperation, The Julie Ruin went public with 2013’s self-released debut Run Fast; on-stage, Hanna had never seemed so relaxed and happy. This follow-up continues the revival, a testimony to the massive chutzpah of its principal player. “Maybe I’m more hell-bent on living than I am just surviving,” sings the narrator of album standout Roses More Than Water. Skilled at manipulating voice and personae, in the past Hanna has often filtered her songs’ autobiographical perspective through political and stylistic agendas. So Hit Reset’s heightened personal flavour feels significant. Musically the terrain is familiar from her previous bands – a hardcore punk-blasted fusion of ’60s girl group harmonies, surf bubblegum and jukebox jive with lashings of ’70s funk and ’80s synthpop – albeit now with a pronounced organic suppleness. As ever, Hanna’s reach is ambitious. At times, particularly during Hit Reset ’s first half, the impact gets diffused amid one didactic call-andresponse routine too many, while Mr So And So’s acutely observed satire of a sexist music biz mook (“I jump out of my plane in a parachute that says ‘girls rule’ with a Sleater-Kinney T-shirt on”) feels just a little bit too inside-baseball. But when The Julie Ruin tone down the clutter, Hanna’s emotional barbs connect deep. I Decide smoulders tension like Wire, a stark declaration of self amid adversity (“I belong to the wolves who drug me”) that’s clearly a dispatch from the frontline of Hanna’s illness. Likewise the heartrending Let Me Go, a choppy new wave anthem with clear vocal tones (“The stunt me can’t take the tears away”) and distortion-free guitar. Closer Calverton is purely Kathleen’s voice accompanied by piano, a plaintive elegy to the life that’s been lived, from a born survivor who’s not ready to leave. Hanna’s inimitable volcanic vocal power, meanwhile, repeatedly erupts and rearranges air, transporting archetypal knockdowns like I’m Done (“…with your ‘better person’ bullshit”) or Hello Trust No One into a transcendent dimension. Run Fast had twin peaks in the abrasive Bikini Kill redux Oh Come On and itchy-toed love letter Just My Kind, but Hit Reset is stronger overall, because here The Julie Ruin fixes the spotlight on its raison d’être, a woman who, in her own words, “can play electric guitar while shaving my legs in a moving car.” Long may she run.

The Queen of Riot Grrrl returns. By Keith Cameron.