![\"Issue37-thurston-moore\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Issue37-thurston-moore.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\n\u201cPermanently? I don\u2019t know what that would mean,\u201d says Thurston Moore, laughing. The 56-year-old singer and guitarist of the legendary alt rock band Sonic Youth is not referring to the potential length of the iconic band\u2019s hiatus, which began when Moore split with wife and longtime bandmate Kim Gordon in 2011. Rather, he\u2019s considering whether his recent relocation to London might not be temporary. He does know that the move across the ocean put him in a creative place he\u2019s thoroughly relishing. The first result is his latest solo album, The Best Day<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first record I\u2019ve done living where I\u2019m something of an alien as an American,\u201d he says. \u201cI focused on writing songs with the idea of making a solo album, and I let things happen where a band came together. I wasn\u2019t sure whom I would play with. I was going toward things that I felt were positive and good-natured. It was easy to do that in London\u2014there were a lot of beneficent vibes there for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The band that evolved includes guitarist James Sedwards of British space rockers Nought, bassist Debbie Googe of My Bloody Valentine, and Sonic Youth\u2019s drummer, Steve Shelley. \u201cSteve heard James and me doing some duo guitar stuff when he was touring with [Sonic Youth\u2019s] Lee Ranaldo\u2019s band, the Dust. Steve was into what we were doing, stepped in, and really elevated the record.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Best Day<\/i> is a departure from Moore\u2019s last solo record, 2011\u2019s more experimental Demolished Thoughts<\/i>. In between, he recorded with a different set of musicians under the name Chelsea Light Moving, which released a self-titled record last year. \u201cThat, for all intents and purposes, could have been a solo record, but I wanted it to have a band name,\u201d says Moore.<\/p>\n
Musically, the new album often dips into recognizable sounds echoing different moments in Sonic Youth\u2019s career\u2014from scratchy punk to muted melodic passages to soaring jams.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a sound that\u2019s typical to my playing or singing,\u201d explains Moore. \u201cThere are always new emotional expressions. Though I have no interest in replicating what I\u2019ve done in the past, there are motifs I like that are signature. I love hearing that in other musicians, I love seeing it with filmmakers, I love reading it with writers and poets. These motifs are calling cards of sorts. I hold onto that. I feel that is something personal to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Linda Laban<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THURSTON MOORE Crossing the ocean brought the influential rocker a new wave of creativity\u00a0 \u201cPermanently? I don\u2019t know what that would mean,\u201d says Thurston Moore, laughing. The 56-year-old singer and guitarist of the legendary alt rock band Sonic Youth is not referring to the potential length of the iconic band\u2019s hiatus, which began when Moore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[7660,4574],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14672,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14670\/revisions\/14672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}