With their tenth full-length studio record, their third since returning from a 6-year hiatus in 2013, “riot grrrl” veteran rockers Sleater-Kinney come to terms with mortality - the touchstone of our collective 2020 - and its adjacent beauty on Path Of Wellness, out June 11. First single “Worry With You” battles back the chaos of the last year with a light-hearted acceptance possible only when someone walks with you through turmoil. The lines “If I’m gonna worry, I’m gonna worry with you,” and “Let’s get lost baby/And take a wrong turn/That’s the life, that’s the life/We never ever wanna get burned,” would work in the soundtrack of a buddy comedy but shine here in Post-Punk bliss.
Recorded in near seclusion in the shadow of both the pandemic and the seemingly non-stop community action and protests enveloping Portland, OR over the summer, founding members Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker found their solace in the studio, inviting in just enough outsiders to turn on the lights and fill-in on drums. Once the parts were laid and demos set, the two realized a producer seemed moot. The result, as Brownstein explained to Craig Jenkins of New York Magazine’s Vulture blog, “This is who we are. There is nothing mediating this experience. There’s no other entity through which you can filter what this is. This is what we made.”
“Worry With You” found itself closing in on most-added at the end of last week with KCMP, WXRV, Indie 102.3, WFPK, KTBG, and KCSN leading the way, and Sleater-Kinney will join Wilco co-headlining the re-scheduled It’s Time tour kicking off in August.
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