Sleater-Kinney say it like they mean it
Band's 11th album Little Rope an examination of how grief transforms and reforms people
Little Rope is the eleventh album from Sleater-Kinney and the band's first on Grammy-winning boutique label Loma Vista.
The second record helmed by Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, Little Rope dropped on Jan. 19 to some of the strongest reviews in the post-riot grrrl group's 30-year career. The 10-song set is a sonic exploration of grief and healing.
The band was only five songs into the record in late 2022 when Tucker received a call from the U.S. embassy in Italy attempting to reach Brownstein to notify the musician and Portlandia star that her mother and stepfather had been killed in a car accident while on vacation.
Joined by touring drummer Angie Boylan, Death Cab For Cutie's Dave Depper and Outer Orbit's Galen Clark, the John Congleton-produced sessions turned into explorations of how grief transforms and reforms us. From the opening track Hell, addressing the reality of parenthood in a country where mass school shootings are so common that survival tactics are taught to toddlers, to the spitting lyrical content of Dress Yourself with its verse “Get up girl and dress yourself/In clothes you love for a world you hate,” Little Rope is fierce.
But as the hit single Say It Like You Mean It makes clear, this recording is also a declaration of hope in the infernal darkness of this contemporary American life. It's also music as a curative.
“There is an element of catharsis in it, as well as solace and meditation on expressing the difficulties with suddenly losing someone,” said Tucker.
“It was something very steady that we could continue on, because for us this is still work and there is a process involved. The album isn't about the accident, but the whole sound became more emotionally heightened and intense after it.”
Dealing with someone going through something so tragic gave both writers a profound sense of death. With that came the desire to to make a statement about things like a society where hunting kids in schools is a regular thing.
“Hell is about human nature and how we normalize the absolute worst and how American culture has done that with this violence and constant shootings,” she said. “You go to any other country and people ask, `What is wrong with you?' The song gives us a moment to tear that away and think about what we are living with, what it means and having a sense of horror and anguish about it. “
Little Rope tackles recurring Sleater-Kinney themes of deposing patriarchy and forward-thinking feminism with an eye to the personal. Tucker admits that the anger that exploded off classics such as 1997's Dig Me Out or 2015's No Cities to Love finds different avenues of expression in the new material.
“We've endured a lot in the past few years, and have to shake our heads and look at what we have and where we're at here in the United States, in particular, and in the world as well,” she said. “Songs such as Dress Yourself speak to the fact things can make it hard to get up and out of bed in the morning. Little Rope is about saying that out loud and wishing things were different.”
Sleater-Kinney took a decade long hiatus after 2005's moody project, the Woods. Returning with 2015's No Cities to Love, the band was back in fine form in its new chapter. Tucker thinks the post-Weiss releases represent another stage again.
“We're trying to rewrite what the band means to us every time and what do we believe in and what are we good at,” she said. “Each time, we are trying to be as fresh as we can and relate it to today. We cover our whole history in concerts.”
Juxtaposed against Brownstein's quieter, softer tones, Tucker's hugely powerful vocals have been key to the Sleater-Kinney sound from the start. But songs such as Say It Like You Mean It showcase new ranges for her titanic pipes.
“For sure, you have to write for your voice at this age, particularly because we play such super long shows now,” she said. “I love a lot of shrieking, which makes total sense when you're writing at 20 at the start of a band. But we've given ourselves a new catalogue with more vocal variety that gives us more character to work with for a more varied listening experience.”
Tucker says she and Brownstein sometimes compare Sleater-Kinney to a continuing novel. Each subsequent chapter expresses new life experiences.
“It wouldn't make sense to write a song about the relationship dynamics you have at 21 now, because it would be dishonest” she said.
“Being emotionally truthful resonates with what people are going through, because everyone comes to songs in different ways. Speaking your own truth as a songwriter is key.”
One way the group has continued its evolution with Little Rope was with an additional EP of alternate versions of material from the album with an accompanying video series. Titled the Frayed Rope Sessions, the release coincided with International Women's Day and proceeds from sales benefited Noise For Now.
The national initiative enables artists to financially support grassroots organizations working on reproductive justice in opposition to recent court rulings and state legislations banning abortion access across much of the United States.