Sleater-Kinney release “Untidy Creature,” the blistering new single and closer from their anticipated new album, Little Rope, out January 19th on Loma Vista. The song’s remarkable one-shot music video, directed by Nick Pollet, features celebrated Australian freediver Amber Bourke holding her breath underwater for the song’s three and a half minute duration.
Of the song and video, the band says “‘Untidy Creature’ was the first song we wrote for Little Rope, although we didn’t know it at the time; we weren’t certain we were even working on another record. We also worried it had come too easy, the song featured two elements that come very naturally to Sleater-Kinney: a big guitar riff, an even bigger vocal. But as the year wore on, and our choices and bodily autonomy shrank, our feeling about the song changed. It became a gift, somewhere to put our darkest fears, and our deepest hopes. We sometimes feel trapped or angry, and yet still we breathe.”
“For the video, we wanted imagery that spoke to the themes which permeate Little Rope: uncertainty, restlessness, urgency, all of the in-between and discomfiting states with which we’re forced to reckon. So, we came up with the idea of a woman holding her breath in a bathtub for the duration of the song, unsure of her motivations, not knowing whether she’s seeking escape, disappearance, absolution, or simply a moment of quiet and reprieve. We love the tension created by an act that defies both custom and comfort.”
On Little Rope, Sleater-Kinney unleash one of their most potent weapons: the shattering emotional range of Corin Tucker’s vocals. In an album so centered on the vulnerability required to face the world as it is, Tucker manages to find her way from composure to its utter absence, and what she conjures is a series of visceral turns, a sharper, heavier manifestation of a rawness that’s always been there, most notably on the band’s early landmark record, Dig Me Out. Perhaps the most unforgettable of these moments comes near the very end of the album, in the brilliant closing track, “Untidy Creature” – a song that almost didn’t make it onto the record, but ends up being the perfect coda, at once the biggest-sounding track on the record and its most lyrically intimate: “But here’s too much here that’s unspoken/And there’s no tomorrow in sight/Could you love me if I was broken/There’s no going back tonight.” Then the chorus gives way, and in its place a deep, desperate wail that closes one of the most honest and soul-bearing albums by one of modern rock’s most vital bands.
Last month the band brought Little Rope single “Say It Like You Mean It” to life on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, accompanied by special guest tambourinist Fred Armisen. Rolling Stonecalled it “a soaring rendition” of the song Paste Magazine called “pure rock bliss.”
Sleater-Kinney’s North America tour in support of Little Rope kicks off next month on Feb 28th in San Diego. Tour highlights include multiple nights in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. All dates below. Visit sleater-kinney.com for more information.
Sleater-Kinney Tour Dates:
02/28/2024 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
02/29/2024 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
03/01/2024 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
03/02/2024 – Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Theater
03/04/2024 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
03/05/2024 – Dallas, TX @ Studio at the Factory
03/06/2024 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater
03/08/2024 – New Orleans, LA @ Joy Theater
03/09/2024 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
03/11/2024 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
03/12/2024 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem
03/13/2024 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
03/14/2024 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
03/16/2024 – New York, NY @ Racket *SOLD OUT*
03/17/2024 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club *SOLD OUT*
03/18/2024 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts *SOLD OUT*
03/20/2024 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
03/21/2024 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
03/22/2024 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
03/23/2024 – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
03/25/2024 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
03/26/2024 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
03/28/2024 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
03/29/2024 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco
03/30/2024 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
03/31/2024 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
04/02/2024 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
04/03/2024 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
04/04/2024 – Vancouver, BC @ The Vogue
04/05/2024 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom *SOLD OUT*
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