Formed amid the ’90s riot grrrl movement, Sleater-Kinney’s seminal early records were rage-fuelled and explosive. New effort Little Rope is barely less explosive but primarily fuelled by a different emotion: grief. Sleater-Kinney were midway through the songwriting process when Carrie Brownstein learned from the American embassy that her mother and stepfather had been killed in a car accident while holidaying in Italy. On this new album, Carrie and fellow guitarist/vocalist Corin Tucker manifest all the feelings of loss in sounds that range from thundering to delicate. 30 years into their career, Corin’s monumental voice is more than equal to the task, and both guitarists wrestle their Gibsons into tones both caustic and vulnerable.
For some, grieving is a process of disappearing into yourself, but for Carrie, Little Rope is exactly the opposite. “We just wanted to make something that felt extroverted, that felt lively, and that felt like it was going to be a container for these big emotions and sounds,” she says. “Usually our favourite
