THURSTON MOORE
“I’M IN A PLACE WHERE I CAN BE CREATIVE WITHOUT THE ANXIETY OF HAVING TO GO OUT AND WORK, YET THE ONLY REAL REVENUE I HAVE IS FROM GOING OUT AND WORKING”
If you’re a normal person with a normal job and a normal life, you probably haven’t spent much time doing the things Thurston Moore spends his time doing – until recently. Of late the pre-eminent co-founder of Sonic Youth, terroriser of Jazzmasters and walking building block of modern indie-rock has been spending a lot of time between four walls in his adopted home of London, with a guitar on his lap and one eye on the spread of COVID-19.
“I’ve loved working on guitar in the privacy of my flat, knowing that I had all these days ahead of me to do that,” he says. “But, psychologically, it’s a conflict. I’m in a place where I can be creative without the anxiety of having to go out and work, yet the only real revenue I have is from going out and working. I enjoy being in one place but it comes with this situation where people are susceptible to getting fatally ill on a scale that it’s almost too strange to believe. You’d have to be an NHS caregiver to see the reality of it.”
Moore’s new solo record is intended as a balm of sorts. Let’s not pretend that it’s prophetic or that it’s the perfect record for these imperfect times but, close to its heart, there’s a relevant maxim cribbed from avant-jazz musician Albert Ayler, which reads: “Music is the healing force of the universe”. Recorded pre-lockdown, with a few overdubs
