by Seth Colter Walls
Listen to the track below
"Murdered Out"
Kim Gordon's voice is one of the great instruments in post-punk history, though she doesn't always get credit for the variety of her technique. Some of her tricks have become so iconic, it's easy to think Gordon's just doing Gordon on the mic. But when you take a broader view of her career, both inside and outside Sonic Youth, the singer's varied effects are undeniable. The teasing sexiness of "Bull in the Heather," the near spoken-word of "Kool Thing," the guttural anarchy of "Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit," and the pained questing of "Last Mistress"—none of this is the work of an artist on auto-pilot.
"Murdered Out," the first song she's released under her own name, offers another vantage on the inexhaustibility of her sound. The single doesn't just free her from old band names, it also gives Gordon new textures to work with. The song's medium-tempo beat, sketched by producer Justin Raisen and played live by Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa, is funkier than anything favored by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. Over a simple, repeating bass pattern, Gordon adds guitar scrapings—as well as a vocal part that sounds both celebratory and cautionary. "Turn me on," Gordon repeats at the outset, before revealing the consequence that awaits any fulfillment of her objective: "You get lost… murdered out of my heart."
The title of the song is officially a testament to the no-logo practice of blacking out identifying marks on vehicles. Though the confessional nature of Gordon's past lyrics (and memoir) makes broader identification impossible to resist. On this track, her familiar raspy cadences and occasionally key-less intonations create a new poetic effect: one of drastic, cathartic renewal. Hers might not be the kind of vocal range they teach in the conservatory, but Gordon's results continue to speak for themselves.