Everyone at all times says Kim Gordon’s cool, so let’s get that out of the way in which – it might be tiresome to learn repeatedly nevertheless it’s true. The Sonic Youth bassist turned California visible artist’s first solo album, No House Document (2019), was superb and extremely cool. Not simply “cool for a 66-year-old mother”, however a exceptional work stuffed with vim and mordant fury, thrillingly fashionable hip-hop post-punk. Cool as Leslie Winer fronting the Velvet Underground. 4 years on, The Collective equally strives to extract magic from chaos, but is nowhere close to as profitable.
The only Bye Bye is superb, seemingly a two-decade-old vacation packing record (“iBook, energy wire, medicines”) set to grinding industrial lure, with a candy shoutout to Gordon’s late brother, Keller. I’m a Man and Psychedelic Orgasm are OK, vivid depictions of masculine toxicity and acid tripping. Sadly, Gordon’s spiky, staccato supply is simply too usually drowned in distortion and diminished by tune-dodging cacophony. So many songs, equivalent to Trophies, are tense but lethargic, and when the airless depth clears briefly on Shelf Hotter it’s too late. Maybe the chance of creating music that sounds so near the sting is that generally you fall off. Hopefully she’ll attempt once more quickly although.
