Few people in this world could make a song out of a packing list without coming across as a pretentious try-hard. In fact, Kim Gordon might be the only person cool enough to combine a power cord, medications and a button-down into a great lyric.
On her second solo album The Collective, the former Sonic Youth vocalist/bassist wreaks havoc with a blistering combination of claustrophobic noise-rock and glitchy trap. Where her debut No Home Record held on to more of the rock elements with which she initially made her name, The Collective throws all expectations out the window in favour of an unrestrained, cutting-edge attack on the senses.
Mixing genres isn’t a novel concept, especially in today’s musical landscape, and yet Gordon’s rough-edged, sharp-cornered poetry feels like unchartered territory. Ultra-modern sounds are well-matched with Gordon’s razor-sharp lyrics exploring big themes as she takes down traditional gender roles in I’m A Man and the modern California lifestyle in Psychedelic Orgasm.
