Friday, November 16, 2007

Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy

Thurston Moore
Trees Outside The Academy
(09.2007, Ecstatic Peace)
7.5/10

For a man pushing fifty years of age with an innumerable amount of output to his credit it is pretty amazing that Thurston Moore has remained a relevant figure in the modern musical landscape. In fact, the past few years have seen a resurgence of critical success for the living legend that is Sonic Youth. With Trees Outside the Academy Moore continues this streak of success with a group of vibrant guitar led songs that break into some pretty territory with the help of some violin accompaniment and more pared down feeling than on Youth-ian recordings. In a sentence, Moore’s latest recording isn’t necessarily groundbreaking but is an undoubtedly solid group of wonderful songs; pretty straight forward. What I can’t quite grasp is what has compelled Moore to continually record music for as long as he has. I mean he is well past the age when his songs might see the light of day on MTV or the illustrated glory of The Simpsons. I think the short answer is a true love for music. That is what is respectable and what makes his continued contribution to the music world relevant. When music is created for the love of the craft that passion tends to bleed through and push the context of the songs beyond their preconceived parts; a notion for which Trees Outside the Academy is a perfect example.

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