The Corin Tucker Band

There was a void left in the music world when Sleater Kinney packed it in almost five years ago, so the return of guitarist/vocalist Corin Tucker, in the form of a new sort-of solo album, should be welcomed warmly. 1,000 Years (Tucker's self-professed "middle-aged mommy record") is the perfect transition not only for Tucker, but for long-time followers maybe no longer full of reckless punk rock piss'n'vinegar, instead working on a matured, still informed view on life, and its self-awareness reaches into everything from love to socio-political issues. Tucker's purposefully unconventional wail is intact, seamlessly finding its way around the sometimes softer edges, but still partnering with low, thick guitars and jerky rhythms, co-courtesy of new bandmates Sara Lund and Seth Lorinczi ("Doubt"). On "Thrift Store Coats," a wrenching, piano-laden moment amidst the guitar dynamic-soaked record, Tucker laments the effects she saw the battered U.S. economy have on her fellow Portland, OR families, assuaging any fear that her "mommy record" might be on par with some bad daytime television.