Having already changed the game several times over with Sonic Youth, most artists of Kim Gordon’s standing may just spend these years basking in the glow of a majestic alt-rock legacy, or more likely living in its shadow. Having only turned to a solo career in 2019, Gordon now returns with her third record under her own name. After the conceptual satire guitar rock of ‘No Home Record’ and the experimental trap of 2024’s ‘The Collective’, ‘Play Me’ provides a left turn that has no place being this jarring yet pleasurable from any ‘rock’ artist, let alone at 72.
There’s not a whiff of a riff as the godmother of noise struts in on the laidback streetwise trip-hop of the opening title track, with Gordon’s effortless stream of consciousness setting us up for this top-down fiesta of “make out jams” from the “neon cowgirl” here with “spring pop, chill vibes, feel free”. Big beats and big vibes are the order of the day on this third album made with producer Justin Raisen [Lil Yachty, Charli XCX, Sky Ferreira, Kid Cudi] as we bounce into the skittering urgency of ‘Girl With A Look’ and the gnarly, rhythmic rush of ‘No Hands’ – Gordon’s vocals both untethered yet totally in control.
She couldn’t sound more like now than on hip-hop beast ‘Black Out’ guides through the shitshow of AI and Trump times (“all of this red, white and blue can’t replicate my view”) while the danceable self-explanatory ‘Dirty Tech’ presents a shattered view of working life under technocracy, and ‘Square Jaw’ is a straight up threat to “sucker punch” Elon Musk and all that tech bro toxic masculinity all the way to Mars.
With claustrophobic sounds and paranoid lyrics, ‘Play Me’ is an album made of the fragmented consciousness of a doomscrolled mind, especially on the present-day dystopia of ‘Post Empire’ and closer ‘BYE BYE 25!’. The latter is an update of the dissonant opener from ‘The Collective’, heightened by the alarming reality of words and ideas banned or attacked by Trump: “Diversity, tribal, transgender, Hispanic, green, fluoride, female”.
You wouldn’t even know it was Dave Grohl drumming on ‘Busy Bee’ featuring Dave Grohl, his beats made synthetic over a sped-up sample of Gordon and her Free Kitten bandmate Julia Cafritz co-hosting MTV’s Beach House in the ‘90s, echoing the album’s MO to tear up the past to illuminate the present: “the pressure to relax, it was just too much for her”. When everything’s falling apart, it can’t hurt to try put it back together a little differently.
Details
- Record label: Matador
- Release date: March 11, 2026