The Center Won't Hold

The Center Won't Hold is the ninth studio album by American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on August 16, 2019 by Mom + Pop Music.[1] The album was produced by St Vincent and is the last album with drummer Janet Weiss, who announced her departure from the band on July 1, 2019.[2] Upon release, the album received generally favorable reviews from critics.[3]

The Center Won't Hold
Studio album by
Sleater-Kinney
ReleasedAugust 16, 2019 (2019-08-16)
Recorded2018
GenreRock
Length36:16
LabelMom + Pop
ProducerSt. Vincent
Sleater-Kinney chronology
No Cities to Love
(2015)		 The Center Won't Hold
(2019)
Singles from The Center Won't Hold
  1. "Hurry On Home"
    Released: May 29, 2019
  2. "Can I Go On"
    Released: August 5, 2019

Recording and release

By January 2018, the band was said to be working on their follow-up to No Cities to Love, though Carrie Brownstein has said that they're "going to do this very slowly".[4] Carrie Brownstein suggested to Jeff Tweedy that he produce some songs with the band but they began working with St. Vincent first and they enjoyed working with her so much that they decided to continue with her.[5] In January 2019, the band announced that a new album would be expected the same year, produced by St. Vincent.[6]

Singles

"Hurry On Home" was released as the album's lead single on May 29, 2019.[7] The band performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 19, 2019.[8] "Can I Go On" serves as the second single, impacting Triple A radio on August 5, 2019.[9] A promotional single, "The Future Is Here", was released on June 14, 2019.[10] The title track was released as the second promotional single on July 17, 2019.[11]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.7/10[12]
Metacritic80/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
The A.V. ClubA[14]
The Guardian[15]
The Independent[16]
NME[17]
The Observer[18]
Pitchfork7.9/10[19]
Q[20]
Rolling Stone[21]
Uncut8/10[22]

The Center Won't Hold was met with generally favorable reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. This release received a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 30 reviews.[3] The A.V. Club included "Hurry On Home" as part of its list of the 30 best queer rock tracks of 2019[23] and reviewer Katie Rife gave it a positive assessment, writing: "Sleek and shredded, the song bears the stamp of producer St. Vincent, whose slinky sexiness collides with Sleater-Kinney’s heavy riffage with all the power—and entertainment value—of Godzilla battling King Kong."[24]

Upon the album's release, Rife praised the relevance of the songwriting and St. Vincent's production.[14] Comparing The Center Won't Hold to the band's previous albums, The Fader called the album a "beastlier-sounding record than any of those, with wide-open expanses full of slime and bile and some of the band’s most vicious lyrics, blown up to occupy every part of the mix".[5] In Uncut, Sharon O'Connell called it "furiously, vitally Sleater-Kinney".[22] Caryn Rose, writing for Pitchfork, described the production as standing out from the rest of the band's discography, but still keeping the elements they are known for.[19] While ambivalent about St. Vincent's "polished" arty production, Robert Christgau gave the album an A-minus and observed a hooky "musical efficiency" throughout, along with allusive political content "from its Yeatsian opener to a closer that invokes both #MeToo and Hillary '16 if you want it to".[25]

Kate Hutchinson of The Observer was less positive, suggesting that Sleater-Kinney is trying too hard, when they "have always felt effortless".[18] Writing for Tiny Mix Tapes, Jeremy Klein gave a mixed review, with a score of three out of five, calling the collaboration with St. Vincent ultimately disappointing and calling the band "lost" while giving a positive reception to several tracks.[26]

Track listing

All tracks written by Sleater-Kinney (Corin Tucker, Janet Weiss and Carrie Brownstein).

  1. "The Center Won't Hold" – 3:04
  2. "Hurry On Home" – 2:48
  3. "Reach Out" – 3:30
  4. "Can I Go On" – 3:30
  5. "Restless" – 2:42
  6. "Ruins" – 5:18
  7. "Love" – 2:16
  8. "Bad Dance" – 2:44
  9. "The Future Is Here" – 3:00
  10. "The Dog/The Body" – 4:22
  11. "Broken" – 3:02

Personnel

Sleater-Kinney

Technical personnel

Artwork

  • Clare Byrne – styling
  • Charlie Engman – photography
  • Humberto Leon – creative direction
  • João Moraes/Framework – art direction
  • Tina Outen – hair
  • Brian Phillips – creative direction
  • Kanako Takase – makeup
  • McLayne Ycmat – design

Charts

Album
Sales chart positions
Chart (2019) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[27] 34
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[28] 73
Scottish Albums (OCC)[29] 9
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[30] 64
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] 83
UK Albums (OCC)[32] 45
US Billboard 200[33] 27
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[34] 2
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[35] 4 37

Singles
Singles chart performance
Year Single Peak
position
US Triple A Songs[36]
2019 "Hurry On Home" 35
2019 "Can I Go On" 24
gollark: See, vast numbers.
gollark: The nuclearcraft ones must be spammed in vast numbers to work.
gollark: I use the mekanism electrolyzers.
gollark: You can just type the name of the cell to load in, and it puts it in, fires a redstone signal, and takes it out again.
gollark: The computer on the edge, though, is just for swapping cells in and out.

References
  1. Rife, Katie (June 14, 2019). "Sleater-Kinney announces new album The Center Won't Hold, produced by St. Vincent". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  2. Sodomsky, Sam (July 1, 2019). "Janet Weiss Leaves Sleater-Kinney". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  3. "The Center Won't Hold by Sleater-Kinney Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  4. Blais-Billie, Braudie (January 10, 2018). "Sleater-Kinney Working on New Album". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  5. Ross, Alex Robert (June 14, 2019). "The death and rebirth of Sleater-Kinney". The Fader. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  6. Hilton, Robin (January 8, 2019). "New Sleater-Kinney Album, Produced by St. Vincent, Confirmed for This Year". All Songs Considered. KQED, for NPR. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  7. Moreland, Quinn (May 29, 2019). "'Hurry on Home' by Sleater-Kinney". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  8. Cush, Andy (June 20, 2019). "Watch Sleater-Kinney Play "Hurry on Home" on Fallon". Spin. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  9. "Future Triple A Releases". AllAccess. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  10. Zemler, Emily (June 14, 2019). "'Sleater-Kinney Preview St. Vincent-Produced Album With 'The Future Is Here'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  11. Shaffer, Claire; Reed, Ryan (July 17, 2019). "Hear Sleater-Kinney's Dark, Experimental New Song 'The Center Won't Hold'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  12. "The Center Won't Hold by Sleater-Kinney reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  13. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Center Won't Hold – Sleater-Kinney". AllMusic. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  14. Rife, Katie (August 14, 2019). "Sleater-Kinney is down, but not defeated, on The Center Won't Hold". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  15. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (August 15, 2019). "Sleater-Kinney: The Centre Won't Hold review – fighting death with sex". The Guardian. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  16. Pollard, Alexandra (August 15, 2019). "Sleater-Kinney, The Center Won't Hold review: Anxious, pent-up and personal". The Independent. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  17. Hunt, El (August 15, 2019). "Sleater-Kinney – 'The Center Won't Hold' album review". NME. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  18. Hutchinson, Kate (August 18, 2019). "Sleater-Kinney: The Center Won't Hold review – trying too hard?". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  19. Rose, Caryn (August 20, 2019). "Sleater-Kinney: The Center Won't Hold". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  20. Lynskey, Dorian (September 2019). "Brave New World". Q (402): 106.
  21. Hermes, Will (August 14, 2019). "Sleater-Kinney's 'The Center Won't Hold' is a Vital Response to a Disconnected World". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  22. O'Connell, Sharon (September 2019). "Sleater-Kinney: The Center Won't Hold". Uncut (268): 18.
  23. Colburn, Randall (June 17, 2019). "From loud to loudest: The A.V. Club's favorite queer rock of 2019 (so far)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  24. Rife, Katie (May 31, 2019). "5 new releases we love: A sexy, riff-heavy collision, a bracing alté debut, and more". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  25. Christgau, Robert (October 9, 2019). "Consuemr Guide: October, 2019". And It Don't Stop. Substack. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  26. Klein, Jeremy (September 2019). "Sleater-Kinney – The Center Won't Hold". Tiny Mix Tapes.
  27. "ARIA Australian Top 50 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. August 26, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  28. "Offiziellecharts.de – Sleater-Kinney – The Center Won't Hold" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  29. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  30. "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 34: del 16.8.2019 al 22.8.2019" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  31. "Swisscharts.com – Sleater-Kinney – The Center Won't Hold". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  32. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  33. "Sleater-Kinney Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  34. "Sleater-Kinney Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  35. "Sleater-Kinney Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  36. "Sleater-Kinney Chart History". Billboard. July 20, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
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