Partway through the recording of
Little Rope,
Sleater-Kinney's second album in the wake of the 2019 departure of drummer
Janet Weiss,
Carrie Brownstein received word that her mother and stepfather had died in a car accident in Italy.
Little Rope is shaped by that tragedy not in content -- much of the record had already been composed -- but in execution. Aided by longtime friend and bandmate
Corin Tucker,
Brownstein finds solace within the creation of music, fusing the group's recent post-punk explorations with the urgency of their punk beginnings. The focus of
Little Rope is bracing, particularly as it arrives after a pair of exploratory albums where
Brownstein and
Tucker searched on how to usher
Sleater-Kinney into middle age. Those lessons are absorbed, not discarded; compared to the flinty records
Sleater-Kinney made in the 1990s, there's an expanded aural palette, one that sounds vibrant on both the fringes and at its pulsating heart. Guitars remain central to
Brownstein and
Tucker's vision, yet they don't necessarily provide the focus. Instead,
Little Rope coheres around songs and expression, the two halves of
Sleater-Kinney finding sustenance in the creation of music. Sadness lurks upon the edges of the record, as does rage, but
Little Rope ultimately feels cathartic: by processing
Brownstein's loss and dwelling upon their shared bonds,
Sleater-Kinney once again feels united and purposeful. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
