Released 24th May 2011 on Matador Records

Chart Performance: Demolished Thoughts charted at no.119 in the UK charts.

What The Critics Said: “The album seems beamed in from the early ’70s, and probably should’ve happened in the ’90s, but as modern psychedelia increasingly becomes the domain of electronic music, Demolished Thoughts feels right on time—an organic reminder of what can happen when a couple of analog geniuses sit down in a room together and hit “record.” The AV Club

As it goes J Mascis wasn’t the only 90’s alternative noise icon to be branching out on their own this year. Thurston Moore, better known for fronting the experimental and pivotal american indie band Sonic Youth, is here teaming with fellow musical postmodern pop purveyor Beck to produce Moore’s first foray into the acoustic. The album is a collection of exquisite love songs, played on acoustic guitar accompanied by a delicate array of strings.

One must admit that when this album was first released this May, it didn’t break the boundaries that either alternative giant are so skillfully and artistically adept at. Not to say it isn’t a beautiful creation, but it wasn’t as genre busting, and esoteric as any music fan would expect from the duo. Gone is the noise experimentation, gone are is the hip-hop infused pop rock, gone is the eccentricity and gone is the essence of Sonic Youth. No, this is different. This is a fine arrangement of introspective ballads that grows with each listen. It’s immersive in its beauty, and subtlety. The perfect accompaniment to a relaxed summers evening, but not one of the albums of the year.

Then, on 14th October 2011 the news broke, the 27 year romance was over, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore ended their decade spanning marriage. Which thusly threw a dark and ominous cloud over the future existence of Sonic Youth. A end of an era for two for alternative rock’s leading and most artistically important icons as well as one of the music business’ most seemingly rock solid couples. That is what changes this album from a delightful album full of acoustic love songs, into a harrowing depiction of lost and dying love. The album worked on another level, and context was key. The sad news added the context the album needed to transgress itself and become something more. The man who for 30 years had reshaped musical history has delivered his most compelling, poignant, evocative, haunting and earnest work ever. In album opener ‘Benediction’ Moore sings “I know better than to let her go” in an hoarse, almost ethereal tone which, given light to the recent circumstances, is profoundly heartbreaking. The album is akin to Beck’s own most profound and heartfelt album ‘Sea Change’ in which the artist lays out his distress at his own failed relationship. In many ways ‘Demolished Thoughts’ and ‘Sea Change’ are sister albums, their existential musing perfectly painting an emotional portrait of two of musics true iconoclasts. All good things do come to an end, but ‘Demolished Thoughts’ shows that even if Sonic Youth are dead (and that would be an undoubted and indelible loss for the music industry), Moore is a true artist and will prosper regardless. Adam Grylls