Kim Gordon is gearing up to release her newest solo project since The Collective from 2024. The former Sonic Youth star announced the upcoming album, Play Me, and released the first single, “Not Today”.
Play Me is scheduled to release on March 13, with pre-orders available through Gordon’s website. According to a press release via NME, the new album is a slight deviation from Gordon’s previous solo work. The songs are more concise this time around, while also exploring different musical avenues. These experiments show in her collaboration with producer Justin Raisen, who has worked with Charli XCX, Sky Ferreira, and Yves Tumor.
“We wanted the songs to be short,” Gordon said in the release. “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.”
She continued, “Justin really gets my voice and my lyrics, and he understands how I work. That came forth even more on this record.”
Gordon’s upcoming offering seems to borrow a bit from pop production, leaning on short, beat-heavy compositions. While she blends new textures, she also revisits a distinct vocal style she hasn’t dabbled with in a while. This came out specifically on “Not Today”.
“I started singing in a way I hadn’t sung in a long time,” she said in the press release. “This other voice came out.”
Kim Gordon Shares Details and Lead Single From New Solo Project ‘Play Me’
Play Me will be Kim Gordon’s third solo album since her debut in 2019. Before that, she released two collaborative albums, SYR5 in 2000 with DJ Olive and Ikue Mori, and Yokokimthurston in 2012 with Yoko Ono and Thurston Moore. Her first completely solo project was No Home Record in 2019, followed by another collaboration, At Issue with Loren Connors in 2022. In March 2024, Gordon released The Collective, inspired by Jennifer Egan’s 2022 novel The Candy House.
Gordon also partnered with Justin Raisen for that record, and said at the time that she was looking for a more “beat-oriented” sound as well. For Play Me, it seems that she’s pushing her sound even further than The Collective.
She’s also pushing her themes further than before, focusing on current news and technology, such as the rise of AI. With this album, Gordon is rejecting definitive categorization and algorithmic curation. Instead, she’s turning her focus toward human curiosity.
“We are in some kind of ‘post empire’ now, where people just disappear,” she said, citing the news as one of the album’s inspirations. “It’s sort of part and parcel of the convenience culture that we live in, where our choices are kind of curated all the time. Things are branded in a way that tries to predict what your mood is before you have a mood. I find that interesting, and also really offensive.”
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The post Kim Gordon Revisits ‘Other Voice’ in New Album, ‘Play Me’, Which Focuses on Modern, ‘Offensive’ Digital Themes appeared first on VICE.
