It seems we are in a resurgent age of come backs on the music scene – bands from my spent youth like Suede, Ash, The Charlatans and Blur have all emerged from the mists of time to pick up guitar again. So it is with Sleater Kinney who have returned after a decade long hiatus with No Cities to Love. I’m guilty of not listening to Sleater Kinney’s stuff before, but they always sounded like a pretty solid punk band, and by and large that impression hasn’t changed with this new album.
Price Tag is about the drudgery of working a 9-5 in a job you hate and how we all aspire to live lives better than we can afford and are blinded by our consumerist greed and the promise of a life beyond our means. Bury Our Friends is the obvious single of the bunch and has a great guitar riff and back and forth between both Carin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, both singers singing back and forth through the verses and duetting in the chorus, making the song a real stomper. I also really enjoyed the last track Fade, as it felt like such a departure from the rest of the album that was reminiscent of Siouxie & the Banshees’ song Cities in Dust with the sparse use of guitar and the stripped down vocals lending the song a feeling of a post-apocalyptic doom. How refreshing it is to hear a band rip the doors off and then throw a grenade in the metaphorical house they just stepped out of. After all the lifeless banjo-riddled folk-lite crap that’s been polluting the airwaves recently it’s actually good to hear some punk. However, that being said I don’t know if I really connected with the album outside of the singles. Overall I liked the album, but didn’t love it. But it has made me curious enough to listen through the band’s discography. The album's definitely worth a listen, and Sleater kinney are definitely a band worthy of your time.
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Martin Summerfield
Monthly music columnist for the Kirkby Extra, sometimes article writer for Get Into This. Freelance writer/artist/maker. Archives
February 2017
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