- The Center Won’t Hold is the tenth album from iconic American punk band Sleater Kinney, and the second following their reformation in 2015.
In a world where there are few high profile, all-women rock bands, and even less still gong strong in their 40s, Sleater Kinney have in recent years come to occupy the role of a truly significant band, as elders of a sort. The Center Won’t Hold seems intended to be an album that carries some cultural weight – it tries to progress Sleater Kinney’s own discography by collaborating with indie-pop star St Vincent and it attempts to comment on the broader world in our current times.
The title is a reference to WB Yeats’ poem The Second Coming – written a century ago but a verse many quoted in the wake of Brexit, Trump and the rise of reactionary conservatism. It depicts a world falling apart, where old certainties can no longer be depended upon. In the way it’s deployed by Sleater Kinney here, it also plays with the notion of ourselves as the centre of our world and how we relate to broader politics. “The personal is the political” was a feminist catchphrase from long ago, and this is the territory Sleater Kinney are exploring here. “How does brokenness move through the world?” is how lyricist Corin Tucker describes the theme of the album.
So while the album’s epic centrepiece, Ruins, echoes Yeats in dredging the political paranoia that drives authoritarian government, most of the songs are caught in personal, inner struggles. Themes of anxiety, uncertainty and dependency recur through the record. The visual clips released so far use the motif of social media technology and anxiety and the songs rarely rock out in the uninhibited way Sleater Kinney fans may be accustomed to. This is surely influenced by the presence of St Vincent, but also reflects the general mood.
In the last few weeks, much of the commentary about this album has focused on the abrupt departure of drummer Janet Weiss after two decades. “The band is heading in a new direction and it is time for me to move on” tweeted Weiss. Many have seen this as a response to musical changes brought by the collaboration with St Vincent, but more has changed here than just the addition of keyboards.
Anxiety is everywhere in 2019 – a medical epidemic, a new niche market, a theme being explored in art. It is undoubtedly a real issue, and drawing the links between this and the fear that seems to be driving our politics is worthwhile. Still, there’s something kind of disappointing about hearing Sleater Kinney seemingly mired in its grips.
As women emerging from the riot grrrl movement in the '90s, they embodied the DIY freedom of punk at its best. There was always something heroic about three women playing fierce, brash and loud rock music. That was its own comment on fear and repression in a way, but it offered a means to move forwards, stepping out and forging our own lives and society. To hear the band now singing about a crippling alienation that makes the future something to be feared may be an accurate reflection of the times we live in, but I can’t help but feel something has been lost.
- Andy Paine.