Thurston Moore is, arguably, one of the most influential musicians of our generation. The dude is everywhere: from his ground(and-guitar)breaking work with Sonic Youth, to his official membership in Jim Jarmusch’s “secret society” The Sons of Lee Marvin, to directing music videos (i.e. Pavement’s ‘Here’ off Slanted and Enchanted), to running of the Ecstatic Peace! record label and Protest Records (which is a retaliation against certain music piracy laws), to his music reviews for publications like Arthur Magazine and Sonic Life… at this point, his presence is almost an unsurmountable force.
So, this September, when Thurston releases his first solo album in over a decade, it is pretty big news.
The album itself, titled Trees Outside The Academy, was recorded at J. Mascis‘ (of Dinosaur Jr. fame) studio in Amherst, MA. As you might have heard, it is mostly acoustic material, with Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelly & violinist Samara Lubelski on back-up.
That isn’t to say it is devoid of electric guitars or the audio experimentation that has come to be associated with Moore. The title track, for instance, may be an instrumental, but it consists of such distinct parts (jumping between a soft acoustic beat and intense solos) - that it maintains momentum far more impressively than most songs can muster. But, it is pretty noticeable that this is Thurston’s roots record.
Many songs revert back to a singer-songwriter style that, compared to the majority of Thurston’s work, is, for lack of a better word, tame. I don’t want this to come off as negative, though. Actually, my opinion is that it is completely opposite. I find Thurston’s voice relaxing, and to hear it with such a non-intrusive backing is more than a bit refreshing. In lieu of another Sonic Youth record, this release should hold a devout fan’s appetites for a while to come. Check out the samples and tell us what you think.
mp3:
Thurston - Fri/End.
Thurston - Wonderful Witches.
Thurston - Trees Outside the Academy.
The album will be released on September 18th through Moore’s label, Ecstatic Peace!. You can read the (awesome) press release up over there too.
Thanks for helping us out yesterday, Matt. Much appreciated!