Don’t you just love a killer bass riff? If so, then you’re in for a treat, so sit back, relax and let Sleater-Kinney take you on a sonic journey through a path of wellness and out through the other side.

At two minutes and forty seconds, this song is basically cut into three sections, hooking the listener in with movements that build & execute excitement, yet blend naturally into the whole song.

Part one lets the killer bass line do its thing, and frames the two verses, refrain & chorus. The percussion, which heavily favours the snare drum, complements the bass wonderfully.

Part two, the drummer kicks the song into gear with machine gun snare rolls. Guitar parts are reminiscent of the B52’s & New Order and sit in the pocket somewhere in the middle between riff and lead. With the vocal line crying out “And I feel like, I’m unknown”, Sleater-Kinney pull the song into a crescendo.

Part three of the song sees a re-introduction of the killer bass riff except, this time, it’s layered with an 80’s bass synth, which gives the overall sound a different spin. The chorus and main hook of the song “ I’m on a path of wellness” repeated through the Coda of the song, is a highlight in the sound production. Here the two slightly different vocal tracks pan left and right to produce a bigger spatial sound, which really helps to cement the hook into your head.

Lyrically, Path of Wellness is open to interpretation. Sleater-Kinney hints at themes of rejection and the need to rise above it, the human struggle between caring and not giving a shit about what people think. Ultimately I think the song is about self-love and acceptance, after all, one could argue this is the very essence of wellness.

The heart of the song for me, is that killer bass riff! It pulls all the other elements of the song together. It’s the type of bass riff you can hum in your head as you go about your day.

Path of wellness is the first track off Sleater-Kinney’s new album, also titled, path of wellness.

Author: Rob Costa

Rob Costa is a freelance writer & Ghost songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. Rob helps us out with music reviews.