"We sound possessed on these songs," says guitarist/vocalistCarrie Brownstein about Sleater-Kinney's eighth studio album, No Cities to Love. "Willing itall--the entire weight of the band and what it means to us--back intoexistence."
The new record is the first in 10 years from the acclaimed trio--Brownstein,vocalist/guitarist Corin Tucker, and drummer Janet Weiss--who came crashing outof the '90s Pacific Northwest riot grrrl scene, setting a new bar for punk'spolitical insight and emotional impact. Formed in Olympia, WA in 1994,Sleater-Kinney were hailed as "America's best rock band" by GreilMarcus in Time Magazine, and put outseven searing albums in 10 years before going on indefinite hiatus in 2006.
But the new album isn't about reminiscing, it's aboutreinvention--the ignition of an unparalleled chemistry to create new sounds andtell new stories. "I always considered Corin and Carrie to be musicalsoulmates in the tradition of the greats," says Weiss, whose drums fuelthe fire of Tucker and Brownstein's vocal and guitar interplay. "Somethingabout taking a break brought them closer, desperate to reach together again fortheir true expression." The result is a record that grapples with love,power and redemption without restraint. "The three of us want the samething," says Weiss. "We want the songs to be daunting."
Produced by long-time Sleater-Kinney collaborator JohnGoodmanson, who helmed many of the band's earlier albums including 1997breakout set Dig Me Out, No Cities to Love is indeed formidablefrom the first beat. Lead track "Price Tag" is a pounding anthemabout greed and the human cost of capitalism, establishing both the album's melodicdrive and its themes of power and powerlessness--giving voice, as Tucker says,to those who "struggle to be heard against the dominant culture or statusquo."
"Bury Our Friends" has Tucker and Brownsteinjoining vocal forces, locking arms to defeat a pressing fear of insignificance.It's also emblematic of the band's give and take, and commitment to working andreworking each song until it's as strong as it can be. "'Bury Our Friends'was written in the 11th hour," says Tucker. "Carrie had her greatchime-y guitar riff, but we had gone around in circles with how to make thatpart into a cohesive song. I think Carrie finally cracked the chorus idea andyelled, 'Sing with me!'" "A New Wave" similarly went throughmany iterations during the writing process, with five or six potentialchoruses, before crystallizing. It enters with an insistent guitar riff, and abattle between acceptance and defiance--"Every day I throw a littleparty," howls Brownstein, "but a fit would be more fitting."
The album's meditative title track was inspired by the trendof atomic tourism and its function as a metaphor for someone enthralled andimpressed by power. "That form of power, that presence, is not onlydestructive it's also hollowed-out, past its prime," says Brownstein. "Thecharacter in that song has made a ritual out of seeking structures and peoplein which to find strength, yet they keep coming up empty."
Sleater-Kinney's decade apart maderoom for family and other fruitful collaborations, as well as an understandingof what the band's singular chemistry demands. "Creativity is about whereyou want your blood to flow, because in order to do something meaningful andpowerful there has to be life inside of it," says Brownstein. "Sleater-Kinneyisn't something you can do half-assed or half-heartedly. We have to really wantit. This band requires a certain desperation, a direness. We have to be willingto push because the entity that is this band will push right back."
"The core of this record isour relationship to each other, to the music, and how all of us still feltstrongly enough about those to sweat it out in the basement and to try andreinvent our band," adds Tucker. With NoCities to Love, "we went for the jugular."
--Evie Nagy
