Sonic Youth Gossip - Psychic Hearts review

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By ANDREW 0'REILLY
Staff Writer
April 03, 2006

Psychic Hearts (Reissue)
Thurston Moore
Geffen Records
Rocks Like: Sonic Youth Pavement, Minutemen

With a new Sonic Youth album in the works, the heads at Geffen Records thought it a good idea to re-release some of the band’s past catalogue. The medley of old gems includes some of the band’s solo efforts, such as the guitarist/vocalist Thurston Moore’s 1995 debut, Psychic Hearts.
While it is apparent that Moore did not stray far from his work in Sonic Youth, Psychic Hearts shows a more poppy and linear side of Moore’s writing which contrasts with his noise fascination in Sonic Youth. Almost all of the songs build around a solid guitar line — normally distorted and grungy — and Moore’s out-there, obscure-but-melodic lyrics.
It’s no wonder after listening to Psychic Hearts that many regard Moore as one of the fathers of alternative rock and grunge as well as a direct influence on bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden.
Moore chomps through riff after riff with a distorted Stratocaster that is both uniquely different from anything else while simultaneously maintaining a fantastic pop sensibility. On “Ono Soul” (a tribute to Yoko?), Moore uses feedback as a background on top of which he layers a tight electric guitar line and acoustic guitar, all conspiring to create a dense atmosphere that pairs perfectly with Moore’s bizarre and occasionally repetitive lyrics.
Which brings up yet another thing about this album that seems to be a contradiction in terms: Repetitive lyrics normally come off as boring and make the artist seem amateur or uncreative, but Moore’s talent for creating such odd yet telling lyrics paired with his tonal range —from a slight whisper to a throaty baritone — makes even the most repetitive statements poetic.
He also has a knack for telling a great teenage angst story. On the title track, “Psychic Hearts,” he sings about a girl dealing with an unbearably sad situation. Granted, printing massive streams of profanity would culminate in little more than a line of asterisks, so it’s best to just buy the album and follow her story yourself.
Moore’s lyrics and catchy guitar hooks don’t hold the album up by themselves; he stands as a talented composer who can lace phrases and ideas together in such a way that seemingly different elements actually mesh well together.
The final track on the album, “Elegy For All The Dead Rock Stars,” is a great example of this. The 19-minute instrumental incorporates the whole spectrum of Moore’s musicianship and writing. At points, the song feels subdued and calm, but the track later breaks into a collision of noise and distortion.
The effect sounds like it could be right off a Sonic Youth album or Hendrix at Woodstock before settling back down into a nice groove to finish. In other words, it’s like good sex — it lasts just long enough so no one complains, starting slow and then building up to a feverish pitch before finally calming down.
Other than “Elegy For All The Dead Rock Stars,” most tracks on the album clock in around three minutes. But Moore packs more into those three minutes than most artists can into a whole album. Thanks to the songs’ short lengths and the variation on the tracks, it’s pretty hard to get bored listening to Psychic Hearts. Psychic Hearts is a perfect combination of Sonic Youth’s experimentalism with Moore’s talent for writing oddball but socially conscience lyrics and damn good guitar hooks. Moore pushes the limits on this album, but still keeps the songs parallel and on a direct course. It was a smart idea for Geffen to re-release this album — now if only they could figure out what to do with Ashlee Simpson.