Emotions to the fore

Sleater-Kinney make a grief-stained return and the debut by London's Folly Group suggests they are going post-punk places.

- GRAHAM REID

LITTLE ROPE
by Sleater-Kinney

After a decade-long recording hiatus, Sleater-Kinney - the core band of Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss from Olympia, Washington - returned with 2015's impressive No Cities to Love, although there have been uneven returns since. Path of Wellness (2021), after the departure of drummer Weiss, was a creative dip.

Originally associated with the riot grrrl movement, Sleater-Kinney delivered a distinctive mix of the personal and political welded to alt-rock and explosive grunge. It subsequently found them a mainstream rock audience, helped by Brownstein's profile as a comedic actor and writer.

They have more recently added a melodic New Wave approach to their armoury, so Little Rope - their 11th album since their 1995 selftitled debut - is a heady infusion, sometimes chaotically gripping and full of jarring sonic and lyrical juxtapositions.