There has always been a very definite line drawn between improvisation and composition. Usually a band or artist is either on one side or the other with the majority being on the side of composition. The few musicians that are left on the side of improvisation are usually immensely experimental individuals and will rarely compose music with an obvious song structure. Instead they will get together as a group and just start jamming and record everything as they go along. The result is a piece of music comprised of many different movements of sound rather than a strict and creatively limiting verse/chorus/verse/chorus structure.
However, every so often the line is blurred as a very unique band crosses the border between composition and improvisation and blends the two together to create something truly unique. Sonic Youth is one of those unique bands. Forming in New York in 1981 they abandoned all methods of traditional song craft and decided to create a new original sound built around layers of white noise and alternate guitar tunings.
Sonic Nurse may not be Sonic Youth's strongest album but it is definitely one of the best examples of their ability to be both dissonant and mellow at the same time.
As usual bassist Kim Gordon supplies some of the stronger tracks on the album with the stunning pop orientated album opener Pattern Recognition (which takes listeners back to the days where Kim and Chuck D were marching all over Kool Thing), the mesmerizing but dark ballad I Love You Golden Blue and the somewhat sexy Dude Ranch Nurse (which sounds like an almost nihilistic mating call with the line“Let me ride you till you fall"). Although as usual, no album would be complete without one of Kim’s dissonant yet somehow pleasing rants, which here takes the form of Kim Gordon And The Arthur Doyle Hand Cream. The track was originally titled Mariah Carey And The Arthur Doyle Hand Cream (since it was a musical biography about Mariah Carey capitulating everything from her changing record companies to her relationship with Eminem,“How was your date with Eminem, did he bake you and then forsake you?") although due to legal issues the name was changed.
However, Kim Gordon's tracks aren't the only ones shining here. Thurston Moore's more laid back and subdued songs are also a great addition to the album with the mellow war protest Peace Attack, the solid rock song New Hampshire (which doesn’t sound too different from material on Daydream Nation) and the often overlooked Dripping Dream, in which Thurston makes "searching for the cream dream wax”sound like the Koolest thing ever (excuse my pun). Thurston Moore's fellow guitarist Lee Ranaldo also manages to stand out with his track Paper Cup Exit which manages to sound both dark and strangely laid back at the same time.
For a band whose members are knocking on their fifties, Sonic Youth sound surprisingly young and energetic on Sonic Nurse. Every track is distinctively different, from the cool pop of Unmade Bed to the dissonant ranting Kim Gordon And The Arthur Doyle Hand Cream, yet all the tracks fit together well to produce a solid and creative album. It may not be as good as Daydream Nation, but it still holds its ground well and showcases a calmer and more laid back side to Sonic Youth
