Sleater-Kinney is a three-piece rock and roll combo from the wilds of Portland, Oregon. They have paid their dues and left their mark, not only in their native Pacific Northwest, but the world over. The dual and dueling guitars and voices of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein have produced 6 albums in the last 10 years. 4 albums and 7 years ago they were joined by the fantastically insistent and inventive drumming of Janet Weiss and Sleater-Kinney as we know it today was complete. But, enough with the background already...

The Woods is the title of the new Sleater-Kinney album and it's their seventh full-length release. It was produced by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Low) and reveals a very different side to the band. Like many things with sevens on it, it features an itch, a need to try new things. Sometimes people get scared by new things, which is one of the reasons people are disappointing. This is to say that, like Sleater-Kinney, you should not be afraid of new things: honest-to-god guitar heroics/solos; new depth and heaviness to the songs; fuzzed out lows cropping up in places formerly reserved for staccato highs. All of this surrounding and infiltrating the constant in the Sleater-Kinney program: three, breathing, playing as one with unfettered passion and emotion. They want history, they want time, they want art, they want to deal with culture, they have demands, they have needs, they have vision, they have aspirations. And now they have The Woods. Luckily, so do we.