Live: Thurston Moore

30th November 2011

The Ritz

5/10

There’s something fundamentally not quite right about seeing Thurston Moore playing an acoustic guitar. This is a man who, through his work with the hugely-influential Sonic Youth, revolutionised the way in which the electric guitar is viewed; along with bandmate Lee Ranaldo, he blended elements of punk, art rock and noise rock to create a signature style, characterised by unorthodox tunings and screeching harmonics. With the band’s future now hanging in the balance after Moore’s shock divorce from frontwoman Kim Gordon earlier this year, he arrives at the Ritz tonight to promote a new solo record that couldn’t sound less like Sonic Youth: the Beck-produced Demolished Thoughts.

The album’s great triumph is that, for what is ostensibly an acoustic rock record, it’s sonically very dense; whilst the guitar is undoubtedly at the forefront, the throb of the bass and the chime of subtle string sections help create impressive soundscapes.

Unfortunately, Moore’s efforts to translate them to the live arena prove only partially successful. The seven-minute ‘Orchard Street’, for example, comes together perfectly, it’s hazy first half and instrumental second, superbly driven by live harp and violin. On ‘Circulation’, on the other hand, Moore fails to find the right tempo, delivering an oddly-rushed rendition that fails to replicate the crisp sound of the album version. On typically eccentric form, Moore prefaces a number of tracks with short poems that share the wistful, nostalgic tone that underscores the record lyrically, and there’s also a nod to the ‘mythology’ of the Manchester music scene.
A smattering of tracks from debut solo LP Psychic Hearts are a pleasing addition, including closer ‘Staring Statues’, but as far as the set-dominating Demolished Thoughts is concerned, there’s something lost in the live translation.

Thurston Moore – Benediction