The Center Won't Hold

AlbumAug 16 / 201911 songs, 36m 20s
Indie Rock
Popular Highly Rated

How does brokenness walk? Or move through the world?” says guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein about The Center Won’t Hold, Sleater-Kinney’s tenth studio album. “We’re always mixing the personal and the political but on this record, despite obviously thinking so much about politics, we were really thinking about the person – ourselves or versions of ourselves or iterations of depression or loneliness – in the middle of the chaos.” The Center Won’t Hold is Sleater-Kinney’s midnight record on the doomsday clock. After twenty-five years of legendary collaboration, rock’n’roll giants Brownstein, Corin Tucker, and Janet Weiss rise to meet the moment by digging deeper and sounding bigger than we’ve heard them yet. Here are intimate battle cries. Here are shattered songs for the shattered survivors. “The Center Won’t Hold drops you into the world of catastrophe that touches on the election,” says guitarist/vocalist Tucker of the title track. “We’re not taking it easy on the audience. That song is meant to be really heavy and dark. And almost like a mission statement, at the end of that song, it’s like we’re finding our way out of that space by becoming a rock band.

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7.9 / 10

St. Vincent’s sleek, streamlined production stands out from the rest of the band’s catalog, but all of the elements you first fell in love with are still here.

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How did you envision the future 25 years ago? When Corin Tucker hollered, “I’m the queen of rock ‘n’ roll!” two years into Sleater-Kinney’s tenure in 1996 the idea of a “girl band”—a label the band sarcastically threw back into its critics’ faces on All Hands On The Bad One in 2000—as titans of rock was unlikely…

5 / 10

8 / 10

A tumultuous return from Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker

Craving connection in a world that can often seem desperately lonely, the band's ninth record takes a fitting veer into chaos

7.9 / 10

Sleater-Kinney's new album provides a sleeker, modernized modification of the Sleater-Kinney sound, but doesn't lose any of…

When a band reforms it’s usually a case of playing the old favourites on lucrative tours until boredom sets in.

Review: Sleater-Kinney's 'The Center Won't Hold'

By far their most stylised, radio-friendly work to date.

After the unexpected departure of drummer Janet Weiss, Sleater-Kinney end their time as a three-piece with one of their best albums yet 

Weeks before the release of The Center Won't Hold, Janet Weiss left Sleater-Kinney -- a departure that clouded the record's reception, suggesting that the drummer perhaps wasn't happy with the trio's decision to collaborate with producer St. Vincent on the 2019 LP.

8 / 10

Sleater-Kinney have never shied away from pushing their minimal two-guitars-and-drums setup to the max. If 2005's The Woods wasn't enough of...

7.5 / 10

When the news broke in January that Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, would be producing the new album from the now-legendary feminist punk-rock trio Sleater-Kinney, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

8 / 10

Every so often art truly imitates life. For Sleater-Kinney this is more applicable than just about any other turn of phrase. The process of creating this

(Mom + Pop)

8 / 10

Sleater-Kinney are doing what they do best on their St. Vincent produced album The Center Won't Hold – saying something important while having a blast.

The album’s pop and synth elements mark a radical departure for the seminal rock band.

7 / 10

By the time Sleater-Kinney's The Center Won't Hold was released, the cat was out of the bag, and the drummer was out of the band (after finishing recording...

8.0 / 10

'The Center Won’t Hold by' Sleater Kinney album review by Adam Williams. The ST Vincent produced full length comes out on August 16th via Mom + Pop

Drummer Janet Weiss has left the band since recording this St Vincent-produced album – but their songwriting suggests they can weather anything

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Album Reviews: Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold

Feminist punk band found inspiration for new record in an unexpected place

Punks' St Vincent-produced search for new ground succeeds, with casualties

8 / 10