Sleater-Kinney Perform ‘Path of Wellness’ Tracks for NPR’s ‘Tiny Desk’

Sleater-Kinney returned to Portland’s Halfling Studios, the site where they recorded much of their new album Path of Wellness, to perform a few songs from the LP for NPR’s Tiny Desk series.

With their spry backing band, Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker tore through the album’s title track before introducing themselves, discussing Halfling Studios’ role as an important cultural institution in Portland, and thanking NPR for giving them one of the first post-pandemic opportunities to perform live.

“It’s nice to be back here after recording, which felt very insular,” Brownstein said. “It was definitely during the height of the pandemic, so there was kind of a sterile quality to something that you aim to be the opposite of sterile. And we tried to imbue it, obviously, with tons of grit and passion, so it’s nice to be back here just playing it live, in a room with our friends and people who we respect and have fun with.”

Afterward, the band performed a loose rendition of “High in the Grass,” before returning to their One Beat era with the anti-war title track of their 2002 album. They then finished the set off with “Worry With You,” the lead single from Path of Wellness.