If anyone thought
Sonic Youth
were getting a little too comfortable,
The Eternal
proved they weren't afraid of change, even as they closed in on 30 years of making music together.
is
's first album for legendary indie label
Matador Records
after a nearly 20-year stint with
Geffen Records
, which dovetails nicely with the fact that this is also the band's first album with former
Pavement
bassist (and
Matador
alum)
Mark Ibold
.
even changed their usual songwriting approach, writing and recording tracks in quick batches instead of planning an entire song cycle at once. Dust wasn't allowed to settle on these songs, nor could it -- the most striking thing about
is how hard it rocks. The contemplative haze that drifted over
Murray Street
,
Sonic Nurse
, and to a lesser extent
Rather Ripped
is blasted away by opening track
"Sacred Trickster"
's lunging, massive guitars and
Kim Gordon
's demand to be pressed up against an amp. The rest of the band sounds revitalized, too:
Lee Ranaldo
's excellent
"What We Know"
is a furious yet complex rocker, and
Thurston Moore
sounds like the leader of the gang on
"Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn,"
which name-drops the Heaven's Gate cult and the alias of
Germs
singer
Darby Crash
between its "whoa-oh" and "yeah yeah"-fueled choruses. This is the heaviest
have been since
Sister
, and it's fitting that their return to the indie world touches on their
SST
days. That's not the only era they revisit, however.
"Poison Arrow"
's skronky grind evokes
Dirty
's sexier moments;
"Antenna"
's radio love turns
's sun-streaked drones into epic pop; and
"Calming the Snake"
's tumbling, atonal riffing suggests summery menace as much as it does
's no wave roots.
While there's a little bit of almost everything that has made
great over the years, the band hasn't put these elements together in precisely this way before. Considering how expansive their last few albums for
Geffen
were,
's relatively concise songs also set it apart, but when
do stretch out, it's with purpose.
"Anti-Orgasm"
begins as a duet/duel between
Gordon
and
Moore
, who trade challenges and come-ons over free-falling guitars that become a rolling, slow-motion excursion; the track's instrumental interplay is more violent, and more sensual, than its words.
"Massage the History"
is even more vast, encompassing fragile acoustic strumming, distortion storms, and dead calm over its nearly ten-minute expanse. While
doesn't flow quite as effortlessly as some
albums, it's perfectly balanced, its raw moments tempered by the subtle
"Walkin Blue"
"Malibu Gas Station,"
which creeps so imperceptibly toward its raging guitars that they're almost unnoticed until you're caught in their undercurrent.
's freedom to follow their bliss is what holds
together; just as paradoxically, the changes they make on this album not only bring excitement to their music, they reaffirm just how consistently good the band has been -- and continues to be -- over the years. ~ Heather Phares