Album Review: Chelsea Light Moving - Chelsea Light Moving

The separation of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore has left Sonic Youth on a potentially permanent hiatus, and it's hard not to see the formation of his newly-fronted outfit, Chelsea Light Moving, as something of a reincarnation of Sonic Youth. While there are elements of their self-titled debut album that do give a bit of a nod in the direction of Sonic Youth, Chelsea Light Moving is without a doubt the work of Thurston Moore.

The band takes its name from the moving company formed by Philip Glass prior to his fame as an avant-garde composer, in which Steve Reich was briefly employed. This is just one of the many obscure references nestled into the album, and it's well suited for both its intellectualism and obscurity. Although the guitar parts at first seem all noise and dissonance, everything is so cautiously formulated; even during the bouts of heavily distorted and over-amped guitars of Alighted or the drawn-out periods of fuzzy guitar screeching in Groovy & Linda there is a very distinct structure, and it seems to steer into the realms of sludge metal.

Mohawk ventures into the more art-rock pockets of the album with Moore monotonously chanting beat poetry as guitars clatter amidst a somewhat spooky collection of droning sounds. It sits slightly on the border of self-indulgence, but there's enough conviction in the emotionally-driven execution to avoid pretension.

Chelsea Light Moving is an incredibly hypnotising album, but it's something of a letdown. At no point does it ever tip the scale and become exciting.