Album Review: Kim Gordon, Play Me

Ex-Sonic Youth vocalist Kim Gordon has had a productive few years, with her new album arriving hot on the heels of 2022’s At Issue and 2024’s The Collective. On Play Me, Gordon has again collaborated with Justin Raisen, who has worked with the likes of like Charli XCX and Sky Ferreira.

The result is an album that, much like its immediate predecessor, embraces hip-hop and industrial production. Indeed, the record feels very much like a Kim Gordon spin on the classic hip-hop mixtape, with the songs – only two of which are longer than three minutes – defined by their rumbling lo-fi beats.

Kicking off with the jazzy boom-bap of the title track, the LP then progresses through RZA-style grooves on ‘Girl With A Look’, and distorted trap and electronica on ‘No Hands’. Unfortunately, Gordon’s lyrics may prove more of an acquired taste, veering from half-hearted political commentary on ‘Subcon’ (“You want to go to Mars… and then what?”) to a landslide of disconnected buzzwords on ‘ByeBye25!’ (“Nonconforming. Sex. Hate speech. Climate Change.”)

It all reaffirms Gordon’s status as a fearless art-rocker, even if the results make for a decidedly uneven album.

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