SOMERVILLE, MA--Last night marked a sort of return to The Somerville Theatre for Sonic Youth guitarist and vocalist Thurston Moore. The feedback-and-drone rock band last played the theatre early in their career in the 80s. On that night Moore threw a temper tantrum, left the stage thirty minutes early and locked himself in their van. “I’m back exorcising that demon,” he said with his typical smirk.
This time around, the scene was different. Moore played in support of his third solo album, last year’s, Demolished Thoughts, with his new backing band. Christened Demolished Thoughts, the ensemble includes Keith Wood on acoustic guitar, Mary Lattimore on harp, John Maloney (former Burren employee) on drums, and Samara Lubelski on violin. A surprising split from Kim Gordon, his wife of twenty-seven years and co-founder, bassist and vocalist of Sonic Youth, threw the fate of the band in permanent jeopardy last year. No announcement has been made on their future.
In his newest musical incarnation Moore is much calmer than that night in the 80s. Gone is the distorted destruction and wall of feedback from his previous work and in place are spiraling acoustic crescendos. The song structure is still mostly the same with long-winded outros that melt down and disintegrate in acoustic noise. Clearly there’s still a soft spot in his heart for Sonic Youth that this band only hints at, but this project follows its own meandering path.
The group played songs from all of Moore’s solo discography, even reaching back to 1995’s Psychic Hearts. “Circulation” from Demolished Thoughts, roared out of control but was pulled from the static bog by Lattimore’s plucked harp strings. The addition of violin and harp created a constant classical drone that led the audience down stereophonic hallways of dread. Moore’s vocals are still the vocals of warning, dead-pan and off-putting.
Moore was friendly with the audience and patient as they shouted senseless one-liners for attention. Between a few songs he offered his own beat-up poetry streaming free from his mind. Sentence fragments were mashed in a sweaty electrical pulp offering an angulated glimpse into life with his new band. One poem reflected on a beer-fueled heavy metal practice they had.
Kurt Vile, who released the full-length (and #4 Best Album of 2011) Smoke Ring For My Halo and the EP So Outta Reach last year opened the evening. He brought his usual sleepy songs drenched in soft reverb and highlighted by his fishtail mumble. He stood mostly alone, center stage, with acoustic guitar, but was joined every few songs by Lattimore on harp.
It was a casual show, a laid-back affair, the soundtrack to those final moments of a deep sleep and so, the rest of the night was spent in a perpetual awakening. Moore takes his Demolished Thoughts to The Allen Room at Lincoln Center in New York City tomorrow night.
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Photos by Eli Jace
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