One Beat - Lyrics and Composition

Lyrics and Composition

Brownstein has referred to the album as a "strident and pointed political record, in terms of the lyrics". The album contains some of Sleater-Kinney's most polemical songs; "Far Away" explicitly references the September 11 terrorist attacks and contains criticism of American president George W. Bush. Corin Tucker said that it "wasn’t really a conscious decision" to write about the attacks, but there was "just such as an overwhelming presence in our minds as we were trying to write songs, that we felt that we really needed to deal with it, and that we really needed to write about it." The album's lyrics were also prominently influenced by the recent birth of Tucker's son Marshall Tucker Bangs, and according to Tucker, "Marshall is all over One Beat. The last year was definitely a difficult time for me, as he was born nine weeks premature and he was in the hospital for a while. It was the hardest thing that I've ever lived through, that fear and anxiety, and I think I was able to let go into the music." The song "Sympathy" was written about the "terrifying" experience of Marshall's premature birth. "Hollywood Ending" which attacks the concept of celebrity and the mainstream female body image.

Brownstein described the album's overall sound by saying, "I think of Dig Me Out and The Hot Rock as the two ends of the spectrum and it's kind of been combined on this record. And then we also pushed ourselves beyond that." Goodmanson said in an interview that "To me, it's not a record that's built for alternative radio. Yet, surprisingly, the reaction from everyone I've played it for has been like, 'Wow, these guys are really going for it.'" "Far Away" and "Combat Rock" are both politically conscious songs. "Step Aside" references "the violence of the world outside" and the domestic responsibilities of motherhood. The track incorporates a horn section. In One Beat, Carrie Brownstein plays her guitar in the style of Document-era Peter Buck, the guitarist of R.E.M.. The album contains the use of wah-wah pedals, synthesisers, sing-along choruses, and hints of blues music. The song "Prisstina" features backup vocals by American musician and composer Stephen Trask.