The song of the week is Consequence'Weekly music discovery series. looking at the latest and greatest new songs. Find these new favorites and more in our Spotify best songs playlist and to see other great songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify new sounds play list. This week, Kim Gordon returns with poignant worldliness on “BYE BYE.”
It's a to-do list, a packing index, a sermon, a spell. Kim Gordon's latest album, “BYE BYE,” offers a glimpse into the world of her upcoming second solo album, The colective.
Wrapped in reverb, Gordon croaks out a list of travel necessities for an upcoming trip: boots, a turtleneck, a cardigan, contact solution, earplugs, sleeping pills. If the list seems mundane, that's because it is: there's not much out of the ordinary in what she names, except perhaps “milk thistle” or the mention of “cigarettes, for a murderer.” Still, Gordon delivers these words with such gravity that it no longer sounds like “Okay, time to go to the airport, do I have everything?” checklist and more of a mantra or invocation.
Helping cement the spooky vibe is absolutely disgusting hip-hop beat courtesy of top-notch producer Justin Raisen. The kick drum contrasts with the atmosphere of Gordon's vocals, providing distance between his seemingly normal delivery and the high-energy beat beneath it. An industrial electric guitar occasionally cuts through the track, giving it a harsh, dissonant feel. And all the while, icy synths, warbling bass, metallic cymbals, and the general feeling that Something is not right characterize the instrumental background.
So what is this mysterious checklist? Where is our narrator going and why does she bring a milk thistle? Although it is The colective'As the first single, it appropriately brings us Gordon's sharp mentality and introduces us to the pulsating, industrial tones that The colective will probably appear. As noted in her recent live performances, such as her performance at Primavera Sound Los Angeles in 2022, “BYE BYE” evokes a kind of glitchy electro seance. Just as kids say “Beetlejuice” three times in the mirror to make it appear, Kim Gordon repeats her packing list to disappear into another realm.
The other fascinating aspect of “BYE BYE” is the emphasis on material elements. The long list of travel necessities isn't overwhelming on its own, but when you add the dissonance of sounds, it quickly feels like these items mean everything and nothing. Gordon doesn't design the list as an ad per se, but the modern feel of “BYE BYE” evokes an Instagram ad trying to get you to buy a very specific type of sweater, mascara, sleep mask, or calcium supplement. What does it mean need these out-of-home items, ranging from $4.99 to $500? What does it say about our subliminal collective participation in a capitalist ecosystem that determines what we need, rather than the other way around? Are these elements important, meaningless, utilitarian, excessive?
These are the types of subtle questions offered in “BYE BYE.” But even if we don't get any answers to Gordon's collage-like questions, one thing's for sure: the beat of “BYE BYE” is gigantic enough to make us nod our heads. We need those earplugs and that eyelash curler. À bientôt!
— Paolo Ragusa
Associate Editor
thanks to our partners at consequence.net