“Flow Critical Lucidity” is the new album by former Sonic Youth alternative rock guitarist and vocalist Thurston Moore released on September 20, 2024. Featuring seven tracks, it’s Moore’s ninth proper solo album overall.
Writer/poet Radieux Radio, whom Moore has collaborated with on previous projects, wrote the lyrics for the entirety of the album, according to AllMusic. These lyrics tend toward counterculture references as well as ethereal descriptions of otherworldly scenes, and are of a similar mind as Moore’s in the past.
My Bloody Valentine’s Deb Googe plays bass throughout the album. And Netativland member Jon Leidecker contributes electronics that span from foreboding sound clouds to more straightforward grooves.
All in all, Moore doesn’t do much to change his established sound on “Flow Critical Lucidity.” But the substantial contributions from Radio and the band allow the entire crew to go deeper and longer on Moore’s signature no wave guitar thrashing and heavy, transcendent bliss-outs.
The album in sum would seem to offer experimental, avant-garde and noise rock enthusiasts the chance to explore new sonic territories featuring a diverse range of textures. All bolstered by the band’s complex arrangements and musical sophistication. As well as Moore’s technically skilled, intricate guitar work, and the intellectual depth of the album’s lyrics.
An alternative rock icon, Moore’s work with Sonic Youth merged experimental art rock tendencies with unconventional guitar tunings. His abstract, poetic lyrics and perpetually mysterious aura were core ingredients of Sonic Youth during their 30-plus-year run. But these tendencies also bled into countless side projects and less-frequent solo albums such as 1994’s “Psychic Hearts.”
After Sonic Youth broke up in 2011, Moore continued to pursue his ambitions with projects like his band Chelsea Light Moving. As well as noisy collaborations with Merzbow and John Zorn. And solo albums that continued exploring the type of moody, twisting art rock that made him an icon with his pioneering indie rock band.
Moore was born in 1958 in Coral Gables, Florida. At age 18, he dropped out of college after one semester and moved to New York City to take part in the punk and downtown art rock scenes of the mid-1970s that were then forming.
The guitarist then immersed himself in the underground poetry and music communities, exposing himself to a constant flow of new ideas and artistic influences. He took in live readings from punk poet Patti Smith, and was also moved by composer Glenn Branca’s experimental approach to guitar.
In 1980, Moore co-founded Sonic Youth to bring aspects of Branca’s avant guitar techniques to noisy art rock songs. The band then became Moore’s main focus for the next three decades.
Charlie Curnow 