Sleater-Kinney Fears the Future in New Single

Sleater-Kinney’s new single from their upcoming album explores the loneliness created by a modern, tech-driven world. You’re reading this on a screen. You might be listening to music right now, from your phone or your computer, and you probably woke up this morning and checked your phone within a minute. According to Sleater-Kinney, this is proof that “The Future Is Here.” And it’s not a good thing. “The Future Is Here” is the second single released from Sleater-Kinney’s upcoming album The Center Won’t Hold, which is produced by St. Vincent and comes out on August 16^th. Following in the lonely and pleading vein of the first single, “Hurry On Home,” this song blames technology for the isolation of the modern world. “I live my day on a tiny screen/I try to reach for you through the empty streets,” sings vocalist Corin Tucker. Backed by droning, synth-y guitar and minor-key plucking reminiscent of the band The Cure, the song feels like a cold march through the daily screen-to-screen routine. Though Sleater-Kinney’s sound has evolved, this new track shares a similar message with the band’s iconic “Modern Girl” from 2005 album The Woods. Both songs criticize the consumerism and superficial trappings of modernity with an ominous current of loneliness running underneath. But “The Future Is Here” trades the anger and sarcasm of “Modern Girl” for a resigned, tired hopelessness: “I need you more than I ever have/because the future’s here and we can’t go back.” Guitarist Carrie Brownstein has said that this album will focus more on the individual and personal amongst this year’s political chaos, rather than just on the politics. And when we shuffle from bad news on our phones to bad news on TV, to work and back, rinse and repeat, it’s hard not to be resigned and tired. Sleater-Kinney understands. Listen to “The Future is Here” right here and watch for Sleater-Kinney’s new album to come out August 16^th through Mom + Pop Records. Picture credit: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sleater-kinney-return-of-the-roar-53390/