Kim Gordon “The Collective” Album Review

The Collective

Kim Gordon

• Genre: Rock
• Date: March 8, 2024
• Content: Explicit
• Track(s): 11
• 2023, @Matador

Kim Gordon, like many of us, is always on her phone. She recently released her second solo album, “The Collective,” a brilliant expression of her artistry. The album shares its name with a painting she exhibited at New York’s 303 Gallery last year.

“The Collective” is driven by ear-splitting trap beats, churning industrial guitar, and lyrics that include packing lists and mutterings about driving in Los Angeles. It’s tough for boomer artists to thrive in the smartphone era, where creative output is often invisible without corporate backing and heavy digital promotion. Unfortunately, what frequently strikes a populist chord is mired in irony and insincerity.

To even make it into art school, artists have to delve into their trauma, making autobiographical mode the default. But in a world where we overshare as if the world were a giant diary, it’s understandable that artists feel the pressure to mine their traumas to stand out. It’s time to acknowledge that we’re all seeking attention somehow, and that’s okay.

After being in bands for almost four decades, it’s fantastic to see how Gordon ventured into solo music with her first album, “No Home Record.” While the album’s themes may not be straightforward, some of its songs, such as “Earthquake” and “Murdered Out,” reveal Gordon’s unapologetic and candid lyrics that seem directed towards someone she considers a persona non grata in her life. In her latest album,

“The Collective,” produced by Justin Raisen, Gordon seems to have moved beyond settling scores. Her lyrics are now fragmented, stream-of-consciousness, and less focused on poetry or personal diary-like entries. It’s impressive how she continues to evolve her music while staying true to herself.

Album Art

The album’s artwork reflects the profound impact that technology, particularly mobile phones, has had on our perception of the world around us. The blurred effect creates an intriguing visual effect, which adds depth and dimension to the overall aesthetic. The pink backdrop highlights the contrast between the digital and physical worlds and how they can converge and overlap through technology. The album’s artwork is a poignant commentary on how technology has changed our lives and the world.

Tracks And Features

“The Collective” is an album by the remarkable Kim Gordon that perfectly encompasses various thoughts, humour, and anger. Kim’s experimental art and immense curiosity about mainstream culture are beautifully showcased in this album. Her musical journey has been diverse, from the aggressive Free Kitten to the more radio-friendly Ciccone Youth.

She is also the driving force behind the guitar drone project Body/Head, and her angelic voice has graced various musical platforms, including Rufus Humphrey and Lily van der Woodsen’s wedding on Gossip Girl. Kim experiments with trap beats and her trademark breathy sprechgesang style, which she first tried on her 2019 album “No Home Record.”

The opening track, “BYE BYE,” has her sounding like a SoundCloud rapper, nonchalantly stretching the names of luxury clothing brands like “Bella Freud,” “Y-S-L,” and “Eck-haus-Lat-ta.”

The intricacy of human emotions is explored in this album as an experience. The complex and poetic songs of Kim Gordon explore more profound issues such as resilience, brokenness, sex, violence, and surrealism while touching on everyday items like buying potatoes and leaving money for the cleaner. It sounds like someone is trying to form their thoughts in real-time—the music is raw and impetuous. A great deal of love and emotion went into making this record. It’s a call to investigate your feelings and interpretations of the lyrics and to look for significance in life’s chaos.

Though the album is dreamy, themes that have piqued Gordon’s interest throughout her career are readily apparent. In “I’m a Man,” she reprises her interest in the performance of masculinity, which she first wrote about in the early 1980s while dressing like a slick playboy.

“Psychedelic Orgasm” and “BYE BYE,” which are essentially interior monologues of people going about their daily lives, feel very similar to her ongoing art project Design Office, which explores the connections between fine art, architecture, real estate, and domestic life. She offers these concepts at their most expansive and free-associative on the album, as if they were being read from a note she scribbled at three in the morning.

A few of The Collective’s songs feel incredibly modern. On No Home Record, Raisen’s influence is evident, but he and Gordon try to situate their work within a broader pop music context in this song. Raisen fuses Gordon’s voice into a distorted, formant-shifted knot near the end of “The Candy House,” a low-fidelity trap-pop song that echoes the devil asides of FKA Twigs’ M3LL155X; the music grinds like heavy machinery.

Before caddishly shouting “Pussy pussy pussy!” like Kendrick Lamar on “Doves in the Wind,” she yells out Pussy Riot and her former bandmate Julie Cafritz’s group Pussy Galore on “It’s Dark Inside.” The “Trophies” song’s wounded auto-tune trills are reminiscent of Farrah Abraham’s or Charli’s Pop 2-era work. There isn’t much breathing room for these moments because Gordon moves quickly from one musical or thematic notion introduction to the next.

Understandably, Gordon turned to social media to feel less alone, but unfortunately, what she found was often the opposite. The song “Shelf Warmer” is a poignant reminder of how online interactions can quickly turn from connection to conflict. It’s concerning to think about how digital dopamine triggers have reshaped our desires and made us question whether we genuinely seek meaningful connections or are satisfied with any interaction.

Suppose the music of 100 Gecs and PinkPantheress reflects the online experience of the 2020s. In that case, it represents the moment we disconnect and realize that our perception of reality may have been forever altered. Luckily, at 70, Gordon remains a shining example of someone more relaxed, smarter, and brave than most. Her guidance is invaluable as we navigate these difficult times and strive to find genuine connections that enrich our lives.

Album Summary

“The Collective” is a work of art that exemplifies Kim’s inventiveness. Anyone who values audacious innovation and imaginative risk-taking should listen to it. However, it’s also critical to recognize Kim’s enormous effort on this record, which she created by utilizing her curiosity and years of expertise.

“The Collective” is a remarkable track in Kim’s repertoire since it demonstrates her ability to push boundaries and redefine genres. For those who enjoy avant-garde music, the project skillfully combines aspects of several genres to create a distinctive and engaging listening experience.

Tracklist

Track	Title	Duration
1	BYE BYE	4:14
2	The Candy House	2:22
3	I Don’t Miss My Mind	3:26
4	I’m A Man	4:32
5	Trophies	2:37
6	It’s Dark Inside	3:36
7	Psychedelic Orgasm	3:41
8	Tree House	4:07
9	Shelf Warmer	4:12
10	The Believers	4:56
11	Dream Dollar	3:01

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