No work of art exists in a vacuum. But if we imagined for a moment that the 11th album by Sleater-Kinney – the evergreen duo of singing guitarists Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker – had arrived free of context, without the baggage of life events, its 10 songs might land in certain ways, and maybe not others.
Perhaps the sharpness of its pointillist post-punk would garner effusive praise, or the crackle of its melodies. Little Rope feels, after all, like one of Sleater-Kinney’s most taut and focused outings, with every crisp guitar line and expressive vocal showcased in textured relief, standing proud with space around it like the raised print on an old-style debit card. Kudos is due in part to producer John Congleton, who has previously worked with artists such as St Vincent, who herself produced Sleater-Kinney’s last album but one, The Center Won’t Hold (2019).
