Sleater-Kinney
No Cities to Love
Distributed by Sub Pop
It’s rare for bands to really bounce back from a hiatus, let alone after a decade. Sleater-Kinney’s last album seemed like it was the explosive end to their career. But now they’re back together, with Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss putting aside their other projects, such as the band Wild Flag and sketch comedy show Portlandia. The band is back in fighting form.
The album does seem to start a little rough on “Price Tag” with a bit of strange keyboard being thrown in, but by the end it seems the band is back in their groove. After that, the album steamrolls through killer song after song. By the chorus of “Fangless” it’s clear the band is at its technical best, with Weiss’ drums mountainous roar.
“Surface Envy” is a battle cry with thumping drums, a chorus of roaring guitars, and shouts explaining why we needed this band back. The controlled chaos of scratching guitars popping in and out alongside an unhinged bridge is fire on tape. The track single handly warrants the band’s return.
The band’s Washington roots come out on “No Cities To Love” with the state’s guitar tinges coming through immediately. Despite a somewhat slower verse, the song’s chorus chant and ambient bridge, a new one for the band, are a sight to behold and show they’re still evolving.
Something is noticeable on “A New Wave”—the band finally added bass, at least from the sound of it. It’s almost a little distracting considering the lack of bass in their discography. Nevertheless, the song is one of the best tracks instrumentally. It has a distinctly different sound than their old work, yet the same intensity. This intensity is even more palpable on songs like “No Anthems” where the distortion is maxed-out and Tucker’s vocals get back their yelling power.
Things do take a slight veer off-course on “Gimme Love.” The song just seems a little too repetitive for its lack of catchy parts and never goes anywhere.
“Hey Darling” is a surprisingly good song despite its un-Sleater-Kinney brightness, but it’s one of the album’s best dance-rock tracks and the cheery energy here is contagious.
Not ones to end without fire, “Fade” opens in surprisingly heavy fashion and only lets up momentarily to roar even heavier into its muddy ending.
Sleater-Kinney is back and while they’re not as strong as on The Woods, they have just as much promise as they did in 2005.
