Kim Gordon - PLAY ME
The third studio album from an alternative rock legend sounds like a piercing alarm for the capitalist world, seething within a storm of industrial chaos.
Kim Gordon has long secured her name in the alternative music scene: for decades, her work (both solo and as a member of Sonic Youth) has resonated with listeners while addressing urgent social issues. Yet it now seems that Gordon’s creative drive is experiencing a renaissance. After releasing the outstanding album The Collective in 2024, she presents its follow-up, PLAY ME — arguably the most direct and lucid artistic statement she has delivered in many years.
At its core, PLAY ME portrays contemporary society at a moment when culture appears to be passing through dark times and capitalism continues to erode modern life. The record reflects on the social damage inflicted by the billionaire class — a subject that Billie Eilish has also commented on in the past. Beneath layers of distortion and autotune, Gordon rarely delivers full statements; instead, fragmented lines form a kind of lyrical collage that highlights the issues confronting society today: from the erosion of democratic institutions to the growing simplification of everyday tasks through neural networks. Her ideas remain sharp, while the sound moves beyond the boundaries of trap, incorporating elements of trip-hop and krautrock. Throughout the album, Gordon emerges as something of an orator.
Take the opening track, where the artist recites playlist titles from a streaming service: jazz in the background, spring pop, chill vibes, neon cowgirl, chillin’ after work. From the outset, you feel boxed in — your choices subtly shaped by the same corporations you constantly pay. You might experience different moods and states of mind, with diverse musical tastes, but the major platforms seem to have already made those decisions for you.
On “NO HANDS”, Gordon’s detached voice, like someone reciting a mantra beneath layers of autotune, seems to mock the culture of social media and online dating, where an idealized image of a person is presented to you: something you can see, but never truly feel. The automation of life in the age of social platforms resurfaces on “SUBCON”, where she touches on the idea of colonizing Mars before poking fun at engineers, wondering what would actually come next.
And then comes “DIRTY TECH”, where Gordon directly addresses artificial intelligence, while on “SQUARE JAW” she satirizes the most prominent promoter of neural networks (hey, Elon Musk) while also mocking the design of his Tesla trucks. The absurdity of the modern world reaches its peak on “BUSY BEE”, where the artist suggests that even God has become absorbed into capitalism: he won’t save you — first he has to make money. The album’s most melodic and accessible piece, “NOT TODAY”, portrays Gordon heartbroken; over a gentle shoegaze-tinged guitar, her voice sounds as if it might break into tears at any moment.
Perhaps the track that captures PLAY ME best is the closing song “BYEBYE25”, a reworked version of the track of the same name from The Collective. In this new iteration, Gordon replaces the entire lyric with words reportedly placed on a “blacklist” by U.S. President Donald Trump: the list includes references to minority groups, various opportunities, physical and mental illnesses, and even the Gulf of Mexico. It may sound absurd, but the truth is that the track perfectly captures the political tension that has spread across the world. It feels as though we all need a kind of digital reset. And if there is a musical moment that reflects the state of our culture today, it is undoubtedly Kim Gordon’s new album.
8.6/10
