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Play Me is the brilliant third solo album from Kim Gordon, working with her regular producer Justin Raisen in Los Angeles. The music is mostly made with drum machines, samplers, synthesizers, and bass. Gordon's inimitable vocals explore politics, technology, and the erosion of language itself.

The sound moves between trip-hop, trap, boom-bap, and industrial noise, deepening the approach of her 2024 album The Collective, which earned her first Grammy nominations after more than 40 years in music. The title track is soulful, an instant classic riding on jazz-infused loops. 'Not Today' brings motorik drums and a new singing approach, while 'Busy Bee' features Dave Grohl on drums, cut up and distorted in the mix.

Gordon has mentioned the main influence on the album was the news. Lyrics are pointed and specific, often arriving in fragments and lists. 'Play Me' recites Spotify playlist names as a critique of algorithmic mood curation. 'Dirty Tech' narrates AI replacing workers. 'ByeBye25!' is an update on the original version, presenting terms from Trump's banned-words list like "diversity" and "climate change". The song was first released as a single benefiting reproductive rights nonprofit Noise for Now.

Play Me arrives as the latest in a career of towering achievements. Gordon co-founded Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore in 1981 and played bass and sang in the group across 15 studio albums. She's also a visual artist, the author of the 2015 memoir Girl in a Band, and one half of the improvised guitar duo Body/Head with Bill Nace. The three solo albums she and Raisen have produced since 2019's No Home Record form an essential body of work that no one else could make.