Kim Gordon is having the most fun she’s ever had as a recording artist. Unshackled from any politics that involves being in a band, in her quest to go it alone, she has embarked on a journey of creative freedom that has seen her storm the gates of pop culture.
Moving beyond the realms of no-wave where Gordon reached a crescendo alongside Bill Nace as Body/Head, on her latest solo LP, Play Me, she wields an icy dagger, plunging it deep into the heart of anyone who dares to cross her path.
While No Home Record (2019) and The Collective (2024) shifted the needle in their inventiveness, Play Me sees Gordon at her world-building best. In short, sharp, caustic bursts, Play Me possesses the kind of noisescapes that William Gibson probably had in his mind when writing Neuromancer.
Play Me has the cross-over capabilities to break Tik-Tok. And not just via Gordon breathing fire in the direction of the tech bros in this new age power struggle (led by the excellent Dirty Tech). With 12 songs at 29 minutes, Gordon not only adapts to the modern-day. She thrives in it, discarding the markers initially placed down by others. A certified disrupter, on a crusade to blur the lines between generations.
Starting with the blissed-out hip-hop inflected eponymous track. Gordon summons you into her world with a slow-motion sound bath that lulls you into a false sense of security. The seductive Girl With a Look, more like a modern day take on a Lennon / McCartney love song (“Your a boy with a hook / A girl with a look”). But this is Kim’s world and she spins the narrative in her own beguiling way.
Kim Gordon - Play MeSo too on the trap-infused corporate shake down of Black Out (“I’m the queen of your heart / Ace of your spade / You don”t trump me, I trump you”). It’s wordplay that turns on a dime, while on the glitch-laden, abstract noise assault of No Hands, Gordon actually make auto tune sound good.
There’s room to roam elsewhere, too. The atmospheric Not Today, a moment where Gordon reverses the pattern, making the slightest concessions to melody. It’s only a brief reprieve, as she resumes hostilities on the front line with Square Jaw. A clubland banger for the early hours, Gordon parts with a line delivered with the kind of gusto from the underbelly of grime (“I’ll sucker punch you”). It’s amplified by visceral sub bass that sounds like Kevin Martin mangling giant-sized sound systems.
On Subcon, Gordon takes point on the cost of living crisis, finishing the song with the brutal line, “House is not a home / It’s a dream”. It’s the kind of rhetoric that resonates with the youth, dovetailing nicely with Post Empire. While Sonic Youth explored these themes throughout the years, Gordon takes it full circle with a new generation of listeners.
And speaking of, Gordon signs off with ByeBye2025! A reprise from The Collective’s Bye Bye, and why not? The beat is too timeless to isolate, as Gordon uses it as a backdrop to a running commentary of the year’s talking points before surging into the future.
Which is where Play Me lands. An innovative dismantling of punk that outguns AI, and who better to win the war than Kim Gordon? Old habits die hard, and in her case, they aren’t withering on the vine anytime soon.
Play Me is out now via Matador Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.
