Sleater-Kinney - Little Rope

by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 8 / 3 / 2024

Label: Loma Vista
Format: CD

intro

Discordant and bleak but powerful eleventh album from Olympia-formed veteran alternative rock outfit Sleater-Kinney

Their band name derives from a street in Washington State, USA and Pennsylvania-born lead singer Corin Tucker, 51, and Seattle-born guitarist Carrie Brownstein, 49, have based their new album ‘Little Rope’ around the sound of 1980s alternative rock plus some 1990s grunge. The songs on the record are a tough listen at times but highly expressive and deal with bereavement and rehabilitation. Soon after starting to record this album, in the autumn of 2022, Brownstein's mother and stepfather were tragically killed in a car crash while holidaying in Italy - so it is understandable that emotions are raw. The fast and furious opening track, ‘Hell’ is just as bleak as its title suggests. On ‘Hunt You Down’ Tucker sings of being “down so low I pay rent to the floor”! However, there is laudable resolve amid the anguish and ‘Say It Like You Mean It’ is a powerful pop song with a demand for honesty in a crumbling romance whilst ‘Dress Yourself’ gives an acute sense that life must always go on. “Give me a reason, give me a remedy,” Tucker pleads as Brownstein augments these prayers with unexpected bursts of discordant guitar. ‘Little Rope’ reaffirms the fine musicianship of Sleater-Kinney and will be appreciated by the band's growing number of followers.

Track Listing:-

1 Hell
2 Needlessly Wild
3 Say It Like You Mean It
4 Hunt You Down
5 Small Finds
6 Don’t Feel Right
7 Six Mistakes
8 Crusader
9 Dress Yourself
10 Untidy Creature