music
Here, Kitty Kitty “Inherit is a sort of psychedelic freak-folk record. It’s like
going down and playing in the stream.
Free Kitten Just the opposite of a harsh winter.”
T
ry to squeeze the love out of something and you’ll vocals take you by the hand to the other side. Her essence is at once
find its essence vanishes. Poof. And so it is with Free lonely, ephemeral, esoteric, and oceanic. What Nico is to the Velvet
Kitten’s latest pirouette, Inherit, their third album, that Underground, Gordon is to Free Kitten (and Sonic Youth).
is a decade apart from its closest sibling. In a recent An excellent composition and a refreshingly arty album, Inherit
conversation with veteran, Kim Gordon, the yin of Sonic is poised to draw in devotees and newbies alike with tunes like
Youth, Aesthetica learned about the all-star femme the album opener, Erected Girl, an airy and gritty guitar mantra.
line up, which also includes Pussy Galore’s Julie Cafritz and the Monster Eye is a trippy, indie jam that requires patience to grasp
Boredoms’ Yoshimi P-We. its paradoxical fluidity and single-pointedness. Per Gordon, “the
All music lovers have their old standbys. When asked about long song’s spoken text is kind of a deconstruction of a guy playing
time influences, Gordon was quick to note that Neil Young, Led guitar.” Bananas features J. Mascis on drums and brings punk back.
Zeppelin and Syd Barrett have always been mainstays, and rightfully The album’s achievement and anthem, Free Kitten on the Mountain,
so. “But, Free Kitten has always been influenced by the Royal Trux however, presents a ghostly, primordial, and ritualistic display of the
and lately some MV & EE.” feminine. There’s something intensely soft and feverish it its nature,
“Inherit is a sort of psychedelic freak-folk record,” Gordon notes. akin to fire gazing under a quarter moon in the space between light
“The other Free Kitten albums were harsh, with a New York vibe. This and shadow.
one’s more natural. It’s beautiful like summer, blooming and green. Inherit as a whole pays homage to the lost art of making an album
It’s like going down and playing in the stream. Just the opposite of versus a hit. It sits in the belly of an emotional crucible, containing
a harsh winter.” a few moments of disarray, where the hair is wild and the heart
Recorded at the home of J. Mascis, of Dinosaur Jr. fame, who occasionally lost. There’s enough scaffolding here, however, to keep
lives near Gordon and Cafritz in the artsy outpost of Western the listener focused, and enough wanderlust to keep enchantment
Massachusetts, Inherit courses viscerally via non-meticulous tunings. alive. Turn it up. Dive in and swim aimlessly, with abandon, until
Sure, there’s Sonic screech, and some Pussy punk so characteristic you’re out of breath. Inherit, released in May 2008, is available at
of the early Riot Grrrl years. And just to be clear, Japanoise makes a www.ecstaticpeace.com.
stand. But, when shaken, the cocktail far outweighs its parts.
Inherit nails it, undeniably, in the instrument that is Gordon’s voice. Celeste Federico
In the same way that dreams are seen behind the eyes, Gordon’s
Aesthetica