Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts (Matador)
Thurston Moore is at the point in life where he has earned the right to do whatever the hell he wants. After all, he’s Thurston fucking Moore: the man who broke Nirvana, the man who’s damn near replaced Lou Reed as the high water mark of NYC cool, the man who leads Sonic Youth, or as we call them around here, the greatest fucking indie band ever. Period. So with all that in mind It came as no surprise that Moore’s latest solo disc, Demolished Thoughts, would be whatever the fuck he wanted to do. What wasn’t expected was for the enigmatic singer songwriter to deliver a poignant and concise rush of subdued beauty that is one of his best works yet.
Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts (Matador)
Thurston Moore is at the point in life where he has earned the right to do whatever the hell he wants. After all, he’s Thurston fucking Moore: the man who broke Nirvana, the man who’s damn near replaced Lou Reed as the high water mark of NYC cool, the man who leads Sonic Youth, or as we call them around here, the greatest fucking indie band ever. Period. So with all that in mind It came as no surprise that Moore’s latest solo disc, Demolished Thoughts, would be whatever the fuck he wanted to do. What wasn’t expected was for the enigmatic singer songwriter to deliver a poignant and concise rush of subdued beauty that is one of his best works yet.
Demolished Thoughts is a deeply evocative and masterful album that strips Moore’s songwriting of all the noise and confusion and just leaves raw sound and voice. The most pressing and influential factor on the album, other than Moore himself, is his choice in producer, Beck. A legend in his own right, Beck’s ability to create deep and haunting folk music shines on Demolished Thoughts, bringing in orchestral rushes and a barely-in-the-red crackle to the music that serves Moore’s style perfectly.
Opening with the serene and simple track “Benediction,” the album draws the listener in with caustic warmth that feels like signature Sonic Youth songwriting lost in an autumnal wind and taken far out in the sky. The effect that is achieved can only be described as beautiful. Beck’s production and orchestration shine on the album’s early cuts, using strings and booming distant tympani to create serene, almost Eastern melodic support for Moore’s songwriting. Standout track “Circulation” is a dark and hooky song that dissolves into a staccato tension, rising in pitches of shrill strings and deep churning cellos. It’s strongly evocative of Nirvana’s acoustic work on their dark horse masterpiece, In Utero. The lyrics are classic Thurston Moore–cryptic, cool, and a with just a hint of violence: “I’m not running away/Circulation makes her crazy/She’s not here to stay/She just came by to shoot you, baby.”
Moore’s open-tuned style of guitar playing has developed powerfully over the years, evolving from his noisy roots in Glenn Branca’s guitar orchestra to the refined personal style that Demolished Thoughts showcases in all its glory, allowing the listener to hear the deft musicianship that is mostly indiscernible in Sonic Youth’s standard aural assault. Tracks like “Blood Never Lies” and “In Silver Rain With A Paper Key” allow the instruments to take the forefront. The interplay between Moore’s guitar and Beck’s exceptional production takes over, as the instruments of Moore and the session players backing him up dip in and out in a cosmic intertwining rhythm that feels like floating above a sea of mercury.
The stark and deeply moving sound of Demolished Thoughts will surely make the perfect record as summer slowly draws to an end. Hopefully it will open up the doorway for more excellent artists to collaborate with Beck in production. It is a role that certainly fits him well, and in which he has proved that he is powerfully adept. Fans of Moore’s louder side will find much to complain about here, but fuck them–he’s Thurston Moore. He can do whatever the hell he wants.
