[SonjaK]

It is impossible to write something about 'Demolished Thoughts' without having any idea
about what Sonic Youth represented for contemporary music, what Thurston Moore was
for Sonic Youth and what Kim Gordon was for Thurston Moore. I assume that the readers
will not need any kind of historical/cultural introduction so I'll pass immediately to the point:
'Demolished Thoughts'.

Thurston Moore gets naked in front of people who really want to listen to him carefully, he
gets rid of his schemes and shoulders an acoustic guitar. Only this fact should sound as an
alert to the listeners: the king of noise decides scientifically to record a totally acoustic and
melodic, intimate and melancholic album. I can imagine him, sitting under some tree in a
park, far from people who pass and see him without looking out him: he sings for himself
softly, in such a way that nobody could really hear to the words he speaks, maybe
because he still does not know whether he wants to be understood or not.

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The album opens with 'Benediction', sweet and painful. D-G (or something which really
sounds like that) two chords and a rhythm which give peace and goodness (oh, how far
is 'Confusion is Sex' from here!). Later, when the song goes on, the music becomes more
and more melancholic: just two verse and we slide in a minor tone, almost without realizing
it. The voice is worm, soft and enchanting, the words barely whispered, with deep sweetness…

With benediction in her eyes,
Our dearest gods are not surprised.
You better hold your lover down,
And tie him to the ground.
Whisper "I love you"
One thousand times into his ear, kiss his eyes,
And don't you cry girl, he won't disappear.
But I know better than to let you go.

With benediction in her mind,
She'll never get you back in time.
You better hold your lover down,
And tie her to the ground.
Simple pleasures strike like lightening,
Scratches spell her name.
Thunder demons swipe her halo,
And then they run away.
But I know better than to let her go.

With benediction in her eyes,
Our dearest gods are not surprised.
You better hold your lover down,
And tie her to the ground.
Simple pleasures strike like lightening,
Scratches cross her name.
Whisper "I love you my darling, life is just a flame".
But I know better than to let her go.

I know better than to let you go.
I know better than to let her go.
I know better than to let you go.

I know better...
I know better...
I know better...


The theme of the song seems quite evident: a dying love. There's sorrow on both sides,
like in all long time stories… However I'd like to stress something here and there.
She accepts his decision ("benediction in her eyes"), she knows that it's too late
to make him change his mind ("she'll never get you back in time"), she'd have the
right to get really angry but she doesn't ("thunder demons swipe her halo and then
they run away"): she accepts with great courage the thing is happening. About him…
well, he'd prefer something else, maybe that she tried to hold him. Unfortunately he
must admit to be not surprised about her reaction: he knows her too much to expect
something different. However he feels a big pain realizing this (I'm thinking in
particular to the third strophe, when Thurston's voice literally trembles when saying the
sentence "our dearest gods are not surprised"). It is now almost too easy to understand
that the couple here is not invented… but the question rise spontaneously: why should
Thurston decide to leave Kim if this is so painful for him?
Some musical details. the G (or whatever it is) picking that one can hear on the "whisper"
in the first strophe (it seems like an harp) could give some hope, but theres no similar
picking in the analogous points of the subsequent strophes: it seems to me like Thurston
himself does not believe in this hope. Moreover the song seems to finish with a (harmless)
fade-out, but then he gives us a last unexpected picking, that one could interpret as
"conclusive" and "reconciling" if he had played a D (or whatever it is), but it is a G (or whatever)
which sounds more like something unfinished: on the other hand the album just started,
and there are still a lot of things to be said before arriving to a conclusion.

************************************************** ************************************************** ****

'Illuminine' follows, and it has the smell of a perfect sunset. This time there is no trick: we are
in a minor tone and, a part from some points, the whole song will rest there. The guitar
seems to weep softly and he does not seems to feel better…

Sunday lights come take my nights
And I'll bend down to my knees and die
Illuminate my soul to take
Illuminine your clear cool wine

Going back alone, your lovers light is home
Where the hallowed shine, the lights lighting the road

Monday cries, white clouds turn grey
But your perfect lights brings the sun to play
Illuminine, illuminine
Your clear cool love, your clear cool light

Morning comes awake to your wildest dreams
Let the daylight break, set the angels free

Sunday lights come take my nights
And I'll bend down to my knees and die
Illuminine illuminine
Illuminine illuminine
Illuminine illuminine
Illuminine illuminine
Illuminine illuminine
Illuminine illuminine

The main character of this song does not sleep at night, and when he can sleep he
makes dreams from which he awaken with effort and pain: he calls them wild (free?)
and he encourage himself to ignore them ("let the daylight break, set the angles free").
He speaks about a lonely way home (not a "house") from which it comes a holy light
which illuminate his way… We still have 'Benediction' in our ears, so it is natural to think
that the nightmares are exactly the reasons that made Thurston decide to breakup
wit Kim. The words "your clear cool wine/love/light" let us glimpse an exiting love which
is not the one at home… I'd like also to point out that the home and the weak up from
the nightmares are underlined by an harp (this time it is for sure a harp) and ended up
with some natural harmonics: it seems that he's looking in those clear and clean sounds
some motivations for not going away.

************************************************** ************************************************** ****

We arrive to 'Circulation' and the rhythm increases together with the anxiety. Thurston's
voice does not tremble anymore, the guitar is nervous: the picking is violent and the
bass underlines it with strength, so much that one barely notice that there's no
drums (except for some maracas). The strings are always there, faithful, to keep high
the level of melancholy…

Perfect lights are backwards
Refracted cries
Needle hits black lacquer
Speakers forgive lies

I'm not running away
Circulation makes her crazy
She's not here to stay
She just came by to shoot you baby

Perfect lights are backwards
Refracted cries
Needle hits white lacquer
Speakers forgive lies

I'm not running away
Circulation makes her crazy
She's not here to stay
She just came by to shoot you baby

If in the previous track the perfect light was a reason for joy (it makes rise the sun) now,
on the contrary, it seems to illuminate a murder scene: the fact that the light comes back
doesn't give wellness… Thurston seems to have great care in repeating us that he's not
leaving, but he's not convincing: we are only at track n°3 and he said that too many times,
like he's trying to justify himself. And there's a woman who comes to kill: not for staying,
as he says, but it sound like a lie (to be forginen!)… The resounding (pre)ending of
the song brings with it the end of the (his?) world: at the end of the track, also the listeners
can feel the physical and mental exhaustion of the author.



(end of pt.1)