I am completely obsessed with Kim Gordon. I’m not sure how her late-career pivot to trap music came to be, or why it somehow works. Sometimes it’s better not to ask questions.
Her new album 'PLAY ME' finds Kim streamlining the revelatory noise rock/rage rap sound that exploded out of 2022’s “The Collective” into a tight 12-track album of disarmingly stark yet open-ended abstractions. Each song presents one musical and lyrical idea and rarely strays from it—you’ll know whether you like it within the first three seconds. Given each song’s brevity, this in itself isn’t necessarily an issue. I find 'DIRTY TECH' and 'NO HANDS' the strongest of the hypnotic, almost mantra-like tracks on here. Don’t tell anyone but I can’t resist taking my hands off the steering wheel for just a teeny second every time Kim orders me to let go.
Still, the repetition doesn’t always work in the record’s favor— 'BLACK OUT''s simple production becomes one-note without even reaching the 2-minute mark, and its lack of variation leaves Kim’s skeletal writing and cool delivery too exposed and unadorned to be particularly compelling. As it goes on, ‘PLAY ME’ can start to feel like a slightly watered-down, less interesting rehash of ‘The Collective’—not to mention the closer being a 2025-ified remake of ‘BYE BYE.’ (t r a n s g e n d e r)
‘PLAY ME’’s best moments are, ironically, those which seem to stray the farthest from the album’s ethos. The two post-punk-leaning tracks--'GIRL WITH A LOOK' and 'NOT TODAY'--are structured the most like traditional pop or rock songs, with proper verses and choruses. They are also the album’s catchiest and most emotionally resonant songs—call me basic, I know!!! ‘NOT TODAY’ in particular has a sense of melancholy that I’ve yet to hear Kim explore in her solo career, and its relatively feature-length duration (3:35) allows her to develop the track into something truly special.
Overall, this album is a bit of a puzzler for me—its continued experimentation and what-you-see-is-what-you-get modus operandi are enthralling at its strongest and still admirable at its weakest. I really enjoy this album, even in its less convincing moments. Nothing you hear this year will sound anything like this, so I think it’s worth a listen if only for that! Love you Kimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Listen: 'NOT TODAY'