With the release of their latest album on Matador, Sonic Youth are declaring their freedom from a precarious corporate label.
From early on, with the harder, more grunge inspired Daydream Nation, to their more recent work off albums like Rather Ripped and Sonic Nurse, The Eternal is a good sampling of the band’s sound as it has evolved over the course of its career.
The album opens with “Sacred Trickster,” a salute to French painter Yves Klein and Western Massachusetts noise artist Noise Nomads, and one of the aforementioned grungier tracks.
A stand out track in the bunch is “Malibu Gas Station,” an ode to panty-less celebrities and the flash of the paparazzi’s cameras. Sexy guitar riffs slink in the background while singer Kim Gordon drones out her lyrics in a voice swinging between too-cool monotone and breathy whispers. The whole song eventually dissolved into a clusterfuck of distorted guitars and manic drumming, revisiting Gordon and the mellow guitar heard earlier a few seconds before the song finally ends.
With a little bit of Pixies and a lot of Velvet Underground thrown into the mix, The Eternal is a must listen for fans, old and new.