Sharing what is presumably the final single before the arrival of eleventh studio album Little Rope later this month, Sleater-Kinney have released a video for “Untidy Creature.” Directed by Nick Pollet, the atmospheric clip features free-diver Amber Bourke serenely holding her breath in a bathtub while the song plays. Watch the video below:
The release of “Untidy Creature” follows “Hell” and “Say It Like You Mean It,” both released at the end of last year, with the Olympia, Washington-formed group performing the latter on Jimmy Kimmel Live, accompanied by co-founder Carrie Brownstein’s Portlandia collaborator Fred Armisen on tambourine.
Brownstein onstage with Sleater-Kinney in late 2023.
Speaking about the track (which is the album closer) to NME on Jan. 4, Brownstein shared: “There’s a lot of meaning without words, a lot that’s being evoked and conveyed without the lyrics, and it just felt like, at the end of these 10 tracks that deal with themes of loss and rage and urgency and we just wanted it to break into something that transcended just the every day there.”
As Brownstein and bandmate Corin Tucker have shared elsewhere, much of the album was recorded after the sudden deaths of Brownstein’s mother and stepfather following a car accident in Italy.
Little Rope, due out on Jan. 19 via Loma Vista, will be Sleater-Kinney’s second album since the departure of longtime drummer Janet Weiss, who left the band shortly before the release of 2019’s The Center Won’t Hold. The group’s previous album, Path of Wellness, came out in 2021.
Founded by Tucker and Brownstein in 1994, Sleater-Kinney was one of the most critically-acclaimed bands of the late-‘90s and early ‘00s, releasing seven albums before announcing a hiatus in 2007. During that time off, Tucker released two solo albums, while Weiss and Brownstein formed the supergroup Wild Flag, with Brownstein later forging an acting career through her sketch comedy show Portlandia, as well as an appearance in Todd Haynes’ Carol. The band regrouped in 2015, releasing reunion album No Cities to Love.
Q recently caught a Los Angeles warm-up show for Sleater-Kinney’s upcoming tour in support of the album, which launches on Feb. 28. Check out the full tour dates below:
02/28 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
02/29 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
03/01 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
03/02 – Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Theater
03/04 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
03/05 – Dallas, TX @ Studio at the Factory
03/06 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater
03/08 – New Orleans, LA @ Joy Theater
03/09 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
03/11 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
03/12 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem
03/13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
03/14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
03/16 – New York, NY @ Racket
03/17 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
03/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
03/20 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
03/21 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
03/22 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
03/23 – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
03/25 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
03/26 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
03/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
03/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco
03/30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
03/31 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
04/02 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
04/03 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
04/04 – Vancouver, BC @ The Vogue
04/05 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
