Murray St. [LP]

by Sonic Youth

Overview

Virtually every album Sonic Youth has released since the underrated Goo has been hailed as a return to form. However, Murray Street, their second collaboration with Jim O'Rourke (and their first with him as a full member of the group), not only recalls their past glories but explores new territory. Freed from the trendy agendas that marred A Thousand Leaves and NYC Ghosts & Flowers, the group revisits the complex, transcendent guitar epics that made them underground rock heroes in the first place. But Murray Street doesn't just rehash the sound of their late-'80s heyday, either; for the most part, epics like the '60s-tinged "The Empty Page" and "Rain on Tin" -- which sounds a bit like a rural cousin to Television's "Marquee Moon" -- are built on surprisingly clean, crisp guitar tones that only explode into occasional noise-storms. Indeed, the guitar work on the album's first three tracks is both economical and sensual, a feast of textures and counterpoints that never sounds overdone. Murray Street's wonderfully natural yet intricate sound is O'Rourke's most distinctive contribution to the group; while his work with Smog and Wilco pushed those groups to be more experimental and eclectic, with Sonic Youth he seems to give those tendencies focus and balance. Even the hypnotic drones at the end of "Karen Revisited," the album's noisy, oddly romantic centerpiece, have a unique precision and clarity. Murray Street's first four songs rank among the most consistent, and consistently exciting, work in Sonic Youth's career, so much so that the album's shorter, more rock-oriented songs feel a bit anticlimactic. "Plastic Sun," a Kim Gordon-sung rant, feels particularly out of keeping with the rest of Murray Street's warm, expansive tone; "Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style" is a typical Sonic Youth rocker that suffers merely from not being as good as the first half of the album. Closing with the serenely sexy "Sympathy for the Strawberry," Murray Street reaffirms that at the group's best, Sonic Youth manages to sound fresh and timeless all at once. ~ Heather Phares

Product Details

Release Date:	07/15/2016
Label:	Geffen / Polydor
UPC:	0602547491824
Rank:	33105

Tracks

1. The Empty Page
2. Disconnection Notice
3. Karen Revisited
4. Rain on Tin
5. Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style
6. Plastic Sun
7. Sympathy for the Strawberry

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Sonic Youth   Primary Artist
Kim Gordon   Vocals
Thurston Moore   Vocals
Lee Ranaldo   Vocals
Donald Dietrich   Horn
Jim Sauter   Horn

Technical Credits

Steve Shelley   Composer,Group Member
Kim Gordon   Composer,Group Member
John Golden   Mastering
Aaron Mullan   Assistant Engineer
Thurston Moore   Composer,Group Member
Sonic Youth   Composer,Producer
Jim O'Rourke   Mixing,Engineer,Group Member
Lee Ranaldo   Composer,Group Member
Frank Olinsky   Art Direction
Stefano Giovannini   Photography