Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope

"Little Rope" is one of the best and most layered albums in Sleater-Kinney's nearly 30-year career. To call the album flawless would be an insult to its intent - it plunges headlong into mistakes and brokenness - a meditation on what life has made of us in a world of constant crisis, and what we do to the world in return. On the surface, the album's 10 songs range from sparse to anthemic, from catchy to deliberately harsh. Underneath, however, are perhaps the most complex and subtle arrangements of any Sleater-Kinney album, and a lyrical and emotional compass that points firmly in the direction of something both liberating and terrifying: the sense that the only way to gain control is to let it go.