Thurston Moore’s Chelsea Light Moving, ‘Burroughs’ – Song Review

Thurston Moore, the singer and guitarist who made a dent in history as the frontman for Sonic Youth, is back with a new band, Chelsea Light Moving, and a new song, ‘Borroughs.’

As Spin describes, the track is the first single from the new band, recorded during a session in the wilds of western Massachusetts, invoking and questioning the ghost of poet William S. Burroughs, who Moore calls ‘Billy.’ That Sonic Youth sound is very much present: your wall of wailing guitars, sloppy-confident drums and intelligent-sneering vocals are all parts of the sound du jour.

Moore calls out to the poet laureate of beat America with a shout of “Hey Billy,” asking the ‘Howl’-scribe “What’s the cure for pain?” and “What are your last words?” and “Who are the lovebirds?” as well as the disconcerting claim that “the sweetest drug is free, so will you please shoot it into me?”

What’s better for a mid-morning “yikes!” than an intertwining of poetry and heroin among post-punk guitar churn? Plus, at over six minutes long, the track could use a trim.

This is not all that Moore’s getting into this year: he’s collaborating with his former wife and Sonic Youth bandmate Kim Gordon and the incomparable Yoko Ono on ‘YOKOKIMTHURSTON,’ due out in the fall. No word as of yet if there’s more narcotics and poetry in that one.

Check out our interview with guitarist Lee Ranaldo for more Sonic Youth goodness.

Listen to Thurston Moore’s Chelsea Light Moving, ‘Burroughs’

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.