Path of Wellness

Following a nine-year hiatus, the American punk rock band Sleater-Kinney announced their return with the track "Bury Our Friends" on October 19, 2014.[4] On January 20, 2015, they released No Cities to Love via Sub Pop Records, the first Sleater-Kinney album since 2005's The Woods.[5] Three years later, singer and guitarist Carrie Brownstein told Pitchfork that Sleater-Kinney was working on a follow-up effort to No Cities To Love, but that they were "going to do this very slowly".[6] In January 2019, Brownstein confirmed to NPR that the album was produced by St. Vincent and would be released later in the year.[7]

On July 1, 2019, drummer Janet Weiss announced over Instagram that she was leaving Sleater-Kinney, saying, "The band is heading in a new direction and it is time for me to move on."[8] Sleater-Kinney's ninth studio album, The Center Won't Hold, was released a month and a half later, on August 16.[9] There was some speculation among fans that Weiss had left Sleater-Kinney due to St. Vincent's involvement in the new record, which Brownstein denied, saying that it was originally Weiss's idea to work with her.[10] Responding to a fan on Instagram, Brownstein added, "She left. We asked her to stay. We tried. It's hard and sad."[11] When Sleater-Kinney went on tour that September to promote The Center Won't Hold, they recruited Angie Boylan of Aye Nako as their touring drummer.[12] That November, Weiss appeared on the Trap Set With Joe Wong podcast, saying that she had left Sleater-Kinney because the "roles changed within the band", and that she was "just the drummer now" as opposed to "a creative equal" with Tucker and Brownstein.[13]

On May 11, 2021, Sleater-Kinney announced the album title, cover art, and release date for Path of Wellness, and promised their fans "so much more, soon".[14] Accompanying the album announcement was the release of Path of Wellness's lead single and music video, "Worry With You".[15] The video, directed by Alberta Poon, features a young couple, played by Fabi Reyna and Megan Watson, attempting to cohabitate in their undersized house. Tucker and Brownstein make cameo appearances as an actor in a pharmaceutical commercial and as a television fitness instructor, respectively.[16] On May 26, the band released their follow-up single and video to "Worry With You", titled "High in the Grass".[17] Directed by Kelly Sears, the video for "High in the Grass" provides a psychedelic element, with trees with eyes and a number of decapitated figures, both dancing and attempting cardiopulmonary resuscitation, before culminating in a dance party.[18] The final single to be released in advance of Path of Wellness was "Method", which came out on June 9.[19] The song was accompanied by a Lance Bangs-directed lyric video.[20]

To accompany the June 11 release of Path of Wellness, Sleater-Kinney announced a variety show-style livestream on Amazon Music's Twitch channel, beginning at 9 p.m. (ET) on June 10.[21] Hosted by Chris Hewett, the livestream featured "interviews, live performances and a fortune teller weighing in on [the band's] future prospects", as well as a variety of guest appearances from celebrities and musicians such as Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, and Matt Berninger from the National.[21] On June 25, Sleater-Kinney released a live extended play titled Live At The Hallowed Halls, featuring recordings of the four tracks on Path of Wellness that they played during the livestream event.[22] Sleater-Kinney promoted Path of Wellness with two other live and recorded events. On June 16, Sleater-Kinney appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform "Worry With You". Rather than playing in front of a live studio audience, the band submitted a pre-taped performance from an abandoned skate park.[23] The next day, Tucker and Brownstein appeared on the Audible service Words + Music to discuss "30 years of shared history making music and making noise".[24]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.1/10[25]
Metacritic	78/100[26]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The A.V. Club	B[27]
Beats Per Minute	58%[28]
Clash	7/10[29]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[30]
Exclaim!	8/10[31]
NME	[32]
Paste	7.3/10[33]
Pitchfork	6.8/10[34]
Rolling Stone	[35]
Under the Radar	[36]

Path of Wellness was met with mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Path of Wellness has an average score of 78 based on 18 reviews.[26] The review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave the album 7.1 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[25]

Sleater-Kinney

• Carrie Brownstein – guitar, production
• Corin Tucker – guitar, production