Gimme Moore
Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore has returned with his third solo album, Demolished Thoughts, which is predominantly an acoustic affair, not a move we would have expected from the erstwhile king of noise-rock.
Paul Nolan, 26 Aug 2011
"It’s definitely more of an acoustic album than the last solo record I made,” Thurston Moore says of his new solo record, Demolished Thoughts. “I mean, that did have lots of acoustic guitar, but it was more of a full band; I had Steve Shelley playing drums, J Mascis playing guitar on a few tracks, and I played bass. So, it had more of an electric vibe to it.”
This time around, would Moore say he’s looking to bring out his inner Bert Jansch?
“I love lots of acoustic guitar playing,” he enthuses. “I’m a big aficionado of American folk artists like John Fahey; I love his music and he was a friend of mine. I’ve always been enamoured of the history of British folk music, like Bert Jansch and Roy Harper. That music is all very inspirational to me, but those guys are masterful acoustic guitar players – and I don’t know how to play guitar at all! I taught myself how to play in a completely different way, it’s very unorthodox.”
Notably Demolished Thoughts is produced by Beck, whom Moore spontaneously asked to become involved when he and his partner (and fellow Sonic Youth member), Kim Gordon, met him whilst travelling the US west coast. The first track is called ‘Benediction’, a title with distinctly religious overtones. I have to say, Moore would never have struck me as a particularly devout man.
“I’ve always written lyrics that deal mostly with romantic ideas,” he explains. “A lot of it is very entwined with religious imagery. I mean, I was brought up a Catholic boy, so I’ve always been very enamoured of Catholicism, and how it comes into play with spiritual feelings towards love and heartbreak. I was very influenced on the record by this filmmaker from France called Robert Bresson, who had lots of religious, Catholic imagery in his films, which dealt with human nature and the human condition.”
Given this reference to Catholicism, and of course the surname Moore, I wonder if Thurston has any Irish in his background?
“There is some Irish in my blood, on my mother’s side,” he replies. “I always feel very at home in Ireland, I’m fair-skinned and I have red hair (laughs). So I always feel good when I’m in Ireland, I feel like I’m on the right planet! It’s probably two or three generations back. Irish, German and French is kind of where I’m at.”
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