By: Kevin (@Prufesuroak)
No Cities to Love is Sleater-Kinney’s eighth studio album and the first in ten years. The album was released under Sub Pop records on January 20, 2015.
The album was under a lot of pressure, being the first release the band has had after their decade long indefinite-hiatus. The reunion and new release was a huge surprise and the album proved to be something of a hit for fans of the band. The album has some of Sleater-Kinney’s best songs. The album keeps some of the defining factors of the sound of Sleater-Kinney yet it adds something new that in the end makes the perfect mix of an album.
The band, Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss, have all been busy during the hiatus. Carrie Brownstein formed Wild Flag, along with Janet Weiss. Carrie also has been known to be the star of the IFC show Portlandia. Corin Tucker has been raising a family as well as forming the band Cadallaca. Janet Weiss also being one half of Quasi since its birth and as well as playing drums with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.
From the get go the album tears your head off. The album kicks off with “Price Tag” which kicks down the door and announces itself. The song starts off with this doubling octave up menacing riff which is joined with ringing open chords and this grooving latin-esque drums. The song’s lyrics sort of plays with the topic of working. The lyrics “its 9am, we must clock in, the system waits for us” which speaks of their hiatus and comeback for this album.
“Fight’s over, but I’ll fight on” which is a lyric from the song “Fangless” which one might think is an introspective perspective to the current state of the band, more specifically what the purpose of this album is. The song features some of the catchiest guitar parts and chorus within the album and perhaps all of Sleater-Kinney’s extensive discography.
“Surface Envy” which have the chorus “We win, we lose, only together do make the rules” a catchy chorus which talks about the band and some . The lyrics “No one here is taking notice, no outline will ever hold us” from “A New Wave” talks about being pigeon holder as a certain type of band and in many ways they did “Invent our own kind of obscurity” as the song mentions.
This album is firepower, it’s forward moving. No Cities to Love truly is Sleater-Kinney 2.0 as they said in their interview with NPR. This album is spacey, it’s thick, it’s got teeth, there’s a lot of interplay, a ton of melody (as the band never fails to have) and couple that with electronic pulse that kind of flows through the whole album. This really is Sleater-Kinney 2.0.