Sleater-Kinney Unveils Visceral ‘Little Rope’ Closer ‘Untidy Creature’

Sleater-Kinney released the new single “Untidy Creature” along with a captivating one-shot music video. The song closes Little Rope, a new album arriving via Loma Vista Recordings on January 19.

Led by Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, Sleater-Kinney recorded the 10-track follow-up to 2021’s Path To Wellness at Flora Playback & Recording in Portland, Oregon. Brownstein and Tucker tapped John Congleton to produce their 11th studio album.

Little Rope was completed in the aftermath of a horrific tragedy. Brownstein’s mother and stepfather were killed in a deadly car accident in Italy late in 2022.” As Brownstein and Tucker moved through the early aftermath of the tragedy, elements of what was to become the emotional backbone of Little Rope began to form – how we navigate grief, who we navigate it with, and the ways it transforms us,” as per press materials.

“Untidy Creature” is among the tracks that deals with loss as Tucker sings “But here’s too much here that’s unspoken/And there’s no tomorrow in sight/Could you love me if I was broken/There’s no going back tonight.” Pollet created a video for the song that sees Australian freediver Amber Bourke holding her breath for its complete duration.

The band shared the following in regards to the song and video:

“‘Untidy Creature’ was the first song we wrote for Little Rope, although we didn’t know it at the time; we weren’t certain we were even working on another record. We also worried it had come too easy, the song featured two elements that come very naturally to Sleater-Kinney: a big guitar riff, an even bigger vocal. But as the year wore on, and our choices and bodily autonomy shrank, our feeling about the song changed. It became a gift, somewhere to put our darkest fears, and our deepest hopes. We sometimes feel trapped or angry, and yet still we breathe.”

“For the video, we wanted imagery that spoke to the themes which permeate Little Rope: uncertainty, restlessness, urgency, all of the in-between and discomfiting states with which we’re forced to reckon. So, we came up with the idea of a woman holding her breath in a bathtub for the duration of the song, unsure of her motivations, not knowing whether she’s seeking escape, disappearance, absolution, or simply a moment of quiet and reprieve. We love the tension created by an act that defies both custom and comfort.”

Watch the Nick Pollet-directed video for Sleater-Kinney’s “Untidy Creature” below:

The band launches a North American tour in support of Little Rope on February 28 in San Diego. View a complete list of Sleater-Kinney tour dates below.