The Best Day
If you’ve ever hoped Thurston Moore would just make an album-length version of Sonic Youth’s Pink Steam, then this is the album for you.
Moore has said his band, featuring Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley and My Bloody Valentine’s Deb Googe, pushed him to write better songs, and it shows. It’s evident right from opener, Speak To The Wild, with the kind of Television-inspired guitar odyssey that Moore does so well when he feels like it. Not only is he getting back to the guitar playing that made him one of the best in the world, he’s expanding it further. Grace Lake has some of the most melodic guitar he’s ever laid down.
It doesn’t all work. Detonation is a holdover from Moore’s recent, mid-life crisis phase. It’s an attempt at a punk song Moore just can’t pull off anymore. And his beat poetry lyric style is still in effect – Tape is about as literal as lyrics get. But if you listen to Sonic Youth for the lyrics, then you’re doing it wrong.
Focussed, tight and filled with great songs, on The Best Day Moore has abandoned the acoustic music of recent solo albums and replaced it with what he does best: evocative, beautiful guitar music.
3.5 stars
LEONARDO SILVESTRINI
