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So while the world is still confounded over the mystery behind whether or not Sonic Youth will ever put out new music again in the aftermath of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore’s divorce, people seem to be forgetting that the last three Sonic Youth records were not exactly their finest works. Not to say that Sonic Nurse, Rather Ripped and The Eternal are bad records, per say. Each of those titles have their own endearing merits, no doubt. But they hardly compare to such classic SY whirlwinds as Sister, Goo and Murray Street, give or take a standout track or two.
Certainly the band hadn’t put out anything that could compare to Moore’s outstanding string of solo albums that began in 1995 with the mighty Psychic Hearts and continued into the 00s with Trees Outside the Academy and Demolished Thoughts. It is a string of successful works that only continues to get better with the eponymous debut of the guitar great’s new band Chelsea Light Moving.
The recent revelation from Sonic Youth bassist and ex-wife Kim Gordon in the May issue of Elle that Moore had a little side action going on during the recent years of their marriage might come as a surprise to some. But in listening to songs like the Roky Erickson homage "Empires of Time", "Frank O’Hara Hit"–which refers to the Dune Buggy death of the acclaimed mid-60s poet–and the relentlessly scrub-core closing cut "Communist Eyes", there’s something fueling Thurston’s thirst for throwback chaos. Maybe its the newfound freedom that is allowing him to channel the inner Bowery art rat in him that was out to slit your throat like hot shrapnel on early SY LPs like Bad Moon Rising and Confusion is Sex, abolished from the worry of having someone to think about before you act on your impulses. Not only from his wife but from fellow bandmates Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley as well. This isn’t a new Thurston Moore record. This is the debut of his brand new thing, and he definitely appears to be relishing in the brand newness of it quite thoroughly like a wizened professor of culture in the throes of a wild escapade with a brainy-hot grad student.
But whatever storms are brewing in the man’s life–be it of domestic drama or mid-life hedonism–it seems to be working, cuz Cheslea Light Moving is some of his brashest, brawniest music in years.
