Small Finds

Album: Little Rope (2024)
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Songfacts®:

  • Sleater-Kinney throws a bone to fans with "Small Finds," a discordant anthem that channels the raw energy of Television and Sonic Youth and is sung from the perspective of a dog.

    "When we started playing this song, it was just kind of like a jam on guitar," the band's Corin Tucker explained to Apple Music. "It's a weird song. It definitely comes from our love of discordant guitar."
  • While the music has some real grit to it, Tucker wanted to add a proper story that gave it a swing. "The character in it is a dog," she explained, "and it's about taking away all of that cerebral angst that we live with every day, and we worry about things and getting into our bodies and thinking about, 'Well, what is meaningful in the everyday life? What is some joy I can seek out?'"
  • "Small Finds" is a track from Sleater-Kinney's 11th album, Little Rope. The album gets its name from a lyric in the song:

    Is it food or garbage?
    It smells good enough
    Can you gimme a little rope?


    "We wanted a title that had duality to it," Tucker told Mojo magazine. "There's the idea of rope as a lifeline to pull yourselves out of a terrible situation. A leash that you suddenly can break free of or can just get some slack on. Or yeah, it can be used to bring about your final moments. I think that's in some ways where we are as a people. We have a lot of pretty intense crossroads that we're at."
  • Little Rope arrived in the wake of a devastating family tragedy – the car crash deaths of Tucker's bandmate Carrie Brownstein's mother and stepfather. For the first time since 2005, Brownstein stepped back from the mic, letting her searing guitar work take center stage.

    "During the writing process when Carrie lost her mom she sometimes didn't feel like singing. She would ask me to sing and I was happy to do it," said Tucker.

    "There was a sense of purposefulness and a sense of heightened emotion, because of the tragedy. Also with the past few years that we've all been through, its not been easy. Part of me was looking for a place to put all those feelings and the songs were the perfect place."
  • Little Rope saw Tucker and Brownstein work alongside producer John Congleton [The Killers, Eddie Vedder, David Byrne, St. Vincent], having long admired his work in the studio.

    "He works quickly, kind of a mad professor," Brownstein told NME. "He just knows how to elicit really strong performances and how to elevate songs and give a sonic through line in an immersive world. There's something a little strange about Sleater-Kinney, like the way we play guitar and the places where the band is dissonant or sour, John wants to embrace that and he doesn't want to clean that up in any way. We felt a real kinship with him."
  • Here are more songs and music videos that take you on a tail-wagging adventure through a dog's eyes:

    1989 "Something Happened On The Way To Heaven" by Phil Collins. The video stars a curious canine who explores the stage while the band rehearses.

    2015 "Livin' the Dream" by Drake White. The video lets you see the singer's life through the eyes of his beloved dog, Writer.

    2021 "Fill My World" by Slash. Singer Myles Kennedy wrote the lyrics from the perspective of his little Shih Tzu named Mozart.

    2023 "Bench Seat" by Chase Rice. The song tells a heartwarming story of a man and his dog's unbreakable bond, narrated from the loyal companion's perspective.

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