At the beginning of the month, Janet Weiss unexpectedly left Sleater-Kinney in the middle of the rollout for their new St. Vincent-produced album. Both Weiss and the remaining members of the band released statements at the time, and last night Carrie Brownstein elaborated on her feelings about Weiss’ departure in a series of Instagram comments on her personal account. As Reddit points out, in response to a question about the drummer no longer playing on the band’s forthcoming tour, Brownstein said:

what am I supposed to say? She left. We asked her to stay. We tried. It’s hard and sad. Most people would ask me, “hey are you ok?” That’s the human response. She’s left us with a job to do, a job we also expected and wanted her to be a part of. Her playing on this record is amazing and she’s raved about this album to us and to Annie. But we have to keep looking to the future. Things change, even when those changes are hard and unexpected. Four amazing women worked on this record and we are going to honor that work. So, what’s up? The usual….Women picking up the pieces when someone quits, because we have to and want to. We’re going to keep going because we believe in ourselves and it’s a privilege to get to play music for people. It’s a new chapter. And all artistic entities have many chapters, if they’re lucky. Either the music will resonate or it won’t.

In a follow-up to the original question, Brownstein added: “I dip in/out of the comments. And social media is a beast for real conversations. But I do care. And your questions were in earnest. Thanks for letting me know how you feel.”

Sleater-Kinney’s new album, The Center Won’t Hold, will be released next month. A new single is expected later this week, and the band will go on tour in the fall.