Album Review: Chelsea Light Moving - Chelsea Light Moving

On his most recent Australia trip to Australia, Thurston Moore was billed under his own name, perhaps leading some people to believe they were going to see the mellowed, string and acoustic guitar-based songs of his previous two solo records. They were incorrect. Moore brought out his new band Chelsea Light Moving, who proceeded to rip new arse and earholes all across the country. Although those solo records were pretty damn solid, (2010's Beck-produced Demolished Thoughts in particular) you get the feeling that with this band, Moore's come back home.

Though it might seem weird to say this about an album as harsh and pointed as this one, with Sonic Youth on a possibly permanent hiatus, the idea that Moore still wants to make music like this and, more importantly, still has a few new ideas and something to say, makes these tracks kind of comforting. All the familiar influences are here: the hardcore punk and noise, and the beat poetry that finds Moore relishing spoken word pieces on feminine power and corporate authority. But behind them now is a vital, young band who attack these with what is a generally sophisticated and controlled aggression; most of the songs on Chelsea Light Moving are over six minutes, but there's too much brutality here for any of them to really be called jams. 

Though sometimes the aggression veers into over-simplicity, Moore is a skilled enough lyricist and singer to take you out the other end, sometimes by sheer force of personality alone. He takes your hand and says, 'Come on man, go with it', before the rest of the band punch you in the face.