Review Summary: Moore pays tribute to those who inspire him on one of his best records to date.
Thurston Moore has had a career some could only dream of. From his roots in the 80s NY no wave scene as a disciple of Glenn Branca, to mainstream 90s and 00s alternative rock success, to spending his efforts recording with legends of experimental music and like-minded improvisationalists today; the guy has lived his fullest life. He’s written books, toured the world, founded a stellar label, and probably never has to worry about cash running dry (considering the amount of Goo t-shirts floating around out there). The guy has fallen in love, fallen out of love... fallen in love again, and then fallen out of love again. It’s mere speculation and feeling, but I get the impression Moore is a pretty content guy all things considered (maybe not that last part).
But that satisfaction hasn’t stopped him from being just as prolific as he’s always been. Never one to take as much as a month off, Moore returns with a 3xCD collection of compositions recorded between 2018-2019. Clocking in at just under 2 hours and 30 minutes and spanning areas of experimental rock, drone, space rock, post-rock, and noise, Spirit Counsel is another impressive installment in Thurston Moore’s already impressive catalog.
The first disk, “Alice Moki Jayne” (an combination of female artists’s Alice Coltrane, Moki Cherry, and Jayne Cortez names) is the longest of the three and is a very clear statement of purpose for the album at large. Starting off slow and ambient to build expense, the track takes so many twists and turns over it’s hour-long runtime, it’s dizzying. In a good way, of course. While Moore’s performace on this track is stellar, it’s the talented set of musicians Moore enlists to make this performance as memorable as it is. Disk two (the solo-performed “8 Spring Street”) directly references Moore’s mentor and experimental rock forefather Glenn Branca, both in title and in sound. A fitting tribute is hard to undertake, especially a tribute to someone as unique as Branca, but just one listen of that jagged, noisy guitar is all one needs to hear to know that Moore is doing the man justice. My favorite of the three, “8 Spring Street” is a visceral blast of Branca-esque noise that only someone of Thurston’s pedigree could do proper. The final recording, “Galaxies” (inspired by a Sun Ra poem) is a masterfully-done piece that flirts with noise so perfectly, it’s near-hour-long runtime feels like it goes by in mere minutes. Again joined by a group of collaborators, this time in the form of a veritable army of electric guitars, “Galaxies” once again recalls Moore’s work with Branca as a member of his guitar army.
While it may lack the immediate appeal of his last solo album, Spirit Counsel is a pleasant mix of his established sound with some post-rock and drone thrown in there for good measure. The length may be a deal breaker for some, which is understandable considering it's over 2 hours long. But Moore makes it worth listening to, with those patented guitar twinklings and boatloads of noisy ambiance. Some may say that they miss Sonic Youth’s particular brand of alt rock and that Thurston should focus more on the conventional side of the music spectrum, saying that releases like this are ego-trips or what have you. And while a part of me misses Sonic Youth just as much as the next guy, I'd rather have a hundred more of these types of albums than have Moore try and get Sonic Youth back together for a (most-likely disappointing) reunion. Spirit Counsel is right here, right now. And if given the proper attention and an open mind, is an insightful look into the experimental side of alternative rock’s last remaining boundary-pusher.
