Kim Gordon channels news-cycle dread, political absurdity and dark humour into a sharp, beat-driven new album.
Kim Gordon has released two singles ahead of the release of PLAY ME, out March 13 on Matador Records.
The album is filled with a dark humour that reveals the absurdity of modern life. Gordon finds inspiration for the album in the flattening of culture, the end of democracy and technocratic end-times facism.
On the topic of the themes of the album, Gordon states, “I have to say, the thing that influenced me most was the news.”
Gordon revives the song ‘Bye Bye’, the first song on her Grammy nominated 2024 album, The Collective in a single titled ‘ByeBye25!’
Over the track she recites words flagged by the Trump administration to cancel grant and research proposals.
There is an absurdity that is brought forth as the words Gordon recites range from ‘climate change’, ‘uterus’ , ‘they/them’ to ‘peanut allergy’, ‘tile drainage’ and ‘bird flu’.
In ‘Not Today’, Gordon repeats “There’s a hole in my heart/ There’s a hole in my heart/ There’s a hole, there’s a hole” The song touches on aspects of detachment and apathy within society today.
PLAY ME is produced by Justin Raisen (Charli XCX, Sky Ferreira, Yves Tumor). Raisen has been in collaboration with Gordon for a decade.
“We wanted to do it really fast. It’s more focused, and maybe more confident. I always kind of work off of rhythms, and I knew I wanted it to be even more beat-oriented than the last one. Justin really gets my voice and my lyrics and he understands how I work—that came forth even more on this record.”
Dave Grohl features drumming for the song ‘Busy Bee’, a song that additionally samples audio of Gordon talking with her Free Kitten bandmate Julia Cafritz during a ‘90s media appearance.
PLAY ME is an album that enquires into the current state of the world, and how we got there.
