Chelsea Light Moving’s self-titled album is somewhat deceivingly branded a debut, considering the four-piece is fronted by the Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth fame. Things open with the somewhat oxymoronic ‘Heavenmetal’, and the listener is blasted back to university days thanks to the familiar 20th century guitar strums. The slack-slow, casual-cool plodding is teamed with Moore’s ageing gruff voice and fades with the lyrics ‘love life’.
‘Sleeping Where I Fall’ seems to get its inspiration from Manchester’s The Fall, with Mark E. Smith-style talking: ‘Fall, fall, fall’. Drilling guitar work and smashing cymbals sound like a worksite in full swing, but then we pop out the other side to a light, airy finish.
Oddly enough, ‘Alighted’ is a heavier track, with screaming instruments reminiscent of a bad trip to the dentist. The song travels through highs and lows like a drug trip tinged with loneliness and paranoia, avowing: ‘you’re never really alone’. Eerie strings segue into scrambling instruments like heavy rain on a tin roof, then the drums roll out from beneath the weather, and Moore finalises with variations on the theme ‘I called to get alighted’.
‘Lip’ slows us down again with tingling guitars, a youthful indie twang and distorted vocals about being ‘the third eye of rock ’n’ roll’. ‘Groovy & Linda’ is a mantra in honour of two NYC East Village peace-loving hippies in the Sixties, killed in the prime of their barefoot, bookstore existence, which leads thematically to ‘Burroughs’, named after the Beat author of Naked Lunch. The song is little more than teen angst ranting and swearing: ‘Too f-n bad!’
‘Empires of Time’ has a pub karaoke feel due to the laddish yodeling and escalating noise: ‘Oh Billy, The sweetest drug is free. Oh will you Billy shoot it into me? La la la la oh’. Spoken word, howling sirens and strings punctuate ‘Mohawk’, while ‘Frank O’Hara’ really captures the old Sonic Youth sound with its moody, spooky attitude. ‘Communist Eyes’ finishes the album with an upbeat punk trashing.
Over all, this album serves as a school reunion for the ears – distantly familiar, but sadly past its prime. Moore is no longer green and full of potential. The nervous energy exuded in his music now seems pathetically immature after 33 years in the game. Moore inspired a generation as Sonic Youth’s frontman, but Chelsea Light Moving is the aural equivalent of Charlie Chaplin failing his own look-a-like contest. Kids these days have their own idols, and listeners who know Sonic Youth want Sonic Youth, not an old man reliving the past.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Chelsea Light Moving
Chelsea Light Moving
Out now through Matador/Remote Control
