THURSTON MOORE'S NEW DAY: INSIDE HIS UPBEAT ROCK & ROLL SOLO ALBUM
- 09/11/2014 by Kory Grow (Rolling Stone)

"Playing with this group made me want to create something really positive, because the music was really positive," Thurston Moore says. "Originally, the working title was Detonation, which has a different vibe to it." He laughs.

The group that put Moore on the path to positivity features Nought guitarist James Sedwards, My Bloody Valentine bassist Debbie Googe and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. Together, they made a record that pits lush, anxious guitar lines against propulsive post-punk rhythms in a surprisingly direct manner, uncovering the essence of his Sonic Youth recordings while keeping experimental tangents to a minimum. Songs like the intensely romantic "Forevermore," darkly acoustic "Vocabularies" and indie rocker "The Best Day" present Moore in his most refined state.

The album cover features a picture Moore's father took of his mother swimming with her dog in a lake in the 1940s. "I called it The Best Day," he says. "It was this idea of trying to extol some positivity into releasing this record."

Rolling Stone recently caught up with the singer-songwriter, who has been living in London for the past year, to find out how The Best Day came together. He also discussed the reaction he got to comments he made about black metal while promoting Caught on Tape – Full Bleed, the noise record he made with drummer John Moloney that's slated for early next year and how he's adjusted to life as an Englishman. "I had this fantasy in '78 of going either to London or Los Angeles because I felt it fit my 18-year-old musical dream better than New York, where I eventually settled," he says with a laugh. "Now I got to London."

Read the rest at Rollingstone.com

headline photo

 


more info