(The issue will beavailable on all newsstands starting August 22.)
This month,Sleater-Kinneyreassemble for their long-awaited but never quite guaranteed 10th album,The Center Wont Hold.
The album also features some of the most fragile, expansive songwriting of the bands career.
Credit: Nikko LaMere
In some ways, change laid the foundation forCenters creation.
There were changes behind the scenes, too.
Earlier this year, the band changed management and signed with a new label.
Courtesy Sleater-Kinney
It was a twist that no one, including Brownstein and Tucker, saw coming.
We did ask her to stay.
We wanted her to stay.
But she was really clearly like, This is my decision, says Tucker.
We fought for it, adds Brownstein.
Things change, says Brownstein.
Its a good idea.'
A director can make their best movie when they are 60 or 70.
Painters and novelists, its the same thing.
Protest Songs
As an all-female punk band, everything Sleater-Kinney does feels political.
Its one of those sneaky songs, says Tucker.
Shes very good at disguising melancholy with an uplifting melody.
My relationship to technology is one of skepticism, she explains.
Its hard to talk about it without people just being like, Oh youre anti this.
I embrace it, but I just like everything, I question it.
I dont feel like I can just love it without having some problems with it.
When youre just stacking and building, it can start feeling like youre suffocating.
It kind of worked that we struggled with it like that, because it really was about being overstimulated.
Too sticky, it remarks, almost jokingly.
Annie was always recording us talking or laughing, Tucker recalls of the line.
She is particularly good at taking that atmospheric carnival element and just coming up with ideas.
I always felt on the edge of my seat.
It makes the song feel a little bit on the edge of its seat as well.
Its The End of the World
Sleater-Kinney are masters at turning hopelessness into a rally cry.
A lot of the verses are sung with a sense of desolation or loneliness.
Theres something thats kind of ramshackle about the chorus, especially at the end, and thats very purposeful.
Whatever sort of isolation you feel, youll be met by people who understand you.
