It wasn't long after I became a Sleater-Kinney fan that the band went on hiatus, and I didn't really expect that they would ever reunite, especially as Carrie Brownstein found more success as a comedian/actress and Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss seemed happy pursuing other musical ventures. And I definitely didn't expect, if they were to reunite, that they would be capable of picking back up where they left off without any loss of the original magic. But all of my doubt disappeared the first time I heard "Bury Your Friends," which sounded like they'd never been apart, a perfect combination of the heavy aggression of The Woods and the more streamlined, punchy rock that preceded it. Luckily, the entirety of No Cities to Love follows this trend, blending the best elements of Sleater-Kinney's past music with a renewed vigor and passion, leading to one of their finest releases yet.

The major selling point of Sleater-Kinney, for me anyway, has always been the interplay between Brownstein and Tucker. While Weiss contributes a strong (and often more complex than she's given credit for) percussive backbone, without which these songs wouldn't have nearly the amount of urgency and vitality, it's the disparate yet complementary styles of the vocals that is most compelling. This back-and-forth make tracks like "Price Tag," "Fangless," and the aforementioned "Bury Our Friends" immediate standouts. On "Fangless," Tucker is featured during the verses, knocking them out with her usual breathless gusto, while Brownstein takes on the chorus, a desperately raw declaration to a lover: "I know that you made me/I'm sick for you like a rabid dog/And your lies rearranged me/Broke me down but I'm not undone." While Tucker's voice is technically the better of the two, so powerful and bombastic that it often overshadows anything in its path, Brownstein contributes in a different way: her imperfect growl helps to maintain the rough edges that speak to the band's punk roots.

While Tucker and Brownstein's different but equal vocal roles are easier to appreciate together, they also shine on their own. "Surface Envy" and "Hey Darling" showcase just how impressively Tucker's voice has strengthened and matured over the years into a commanding presence that demands the listener's attention and works as a sort of instant adrenaline rush. The instrumentation is clean and precise, supporting her voice rather than overwhelming it. Meanwhile, "No Cities to Love" and "A New Wave" emphasize Brownstein, mirroring her more frenetic and scrappy vocal style in the loose, grungy instrumentation; the latter also happens to feature one of the catchiest choruses on the album, which as a whole has enough killer hooks to rival any pop album.

At a lean thirty-two minutes, No Cities to Love is much more compact than its sprawling, expansive predecessor, The Woods. However, this does not imply a lack of depth or complexity. Rather, the band have become even tighter songwriters, effortlessly packing the intensity and richness of The Woods into more easily digestible pieces. In doing so, they take a major step forward at the same time as they pay tribute to their more restless origins. Whether it's a one-off reunion or a sign of even greater things to come, No Cities to Love is certainly a worthy addition to Sleater-Kinney's legacy.

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