Thurston Moore Finds Levity on ‘Flow Critical Lucidity’

The first song on Thurston Moore‘s new album, Flow Critical Lucidity, is called “New in Town”, which comes across as a mildly played joke. Moore is hardly a stranger. As a founder of Sonic Youth, he spent much of his young adulthood blazing new routes for rock music that favored texture over melody, conflict over harmony. He became a role model for numerous musicians while tipping his hat to important predecessors, the Stooges or Glenn Branca. Thurston Moore is that rare figure who has garnered esteem across several generations.

Yet, ever the pathfinder, there are new elements on Flow Critical Lucidity. The LP title signals this shift. The words “flow” and “lucidity” hardly apply to Moore’s early approaches to the electric guitar, which ventured into soundscapes of abrasive noise as a means of arriving at some essential truth. That initial instinct was critical of mainstream music of the time.

On this new LP, Moore asserts that restraint and melodic flow can also be “critical” in two ways – first, as a means of going against our current moment of social polarization and, by virtue of this, “critical” in the sense of being life-sustaining. As a result, this album is largely serene and introspective in tone. It provides welcome levity. True to the name of his independent record label, this recording has an aura of ecstatic peace.

Moore laid the groundwork for Flow Critical Lucidity in his previous LP, Screen Time, from 2022. Entirely instrumental, that record had sublime moments of atmospheric reverie, with Moore using his guitar to create ambient spaces that a listener could enter and never really want to leave. Song titles like “The Station”, “The Home”, and “The Upstairs” signaled as much. “The View” and especially “The Dream” were the standout tracks, imbued with emotional depths uncommon in his catalog. 

This meticulous approach of deliberate guitarwork is equally found on Flow Critical Lucidity, albeit with vocals and lyrics this time. The single, “Sans Limites”, is emblematic of the free-spirited ethos of the album with its slow-building momentum of piano, guitar, and eventually, percussion, reaching a crescendo with the entrance of backing vocals by Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab. 

However, the album’s star might be “Hypnogram”, which similarly takes its time in world-building. On this occasion, Moore is intent on visiting a dreamscape—a hypnogram is a sleep map—and the track amounts to being an unconventional love song. Like Chris Marker’s La Jetée (1962), intimacy is only possible through alternative, somnolent means. Its insistent rhythm guitar recalls “Massage the History” from Sonic Youth’s The Eternal (2009). 

Since the denouement of Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore has forged a series of albums that have redefined his identity in different ways. Unlike the solo efforts Psychic Hearts (1995) and Trees Outside the Academy (2007), which were released while Sonic Youth was still active and sounded like outtakes from their recording sessions, Moore has since tested new directions, starting with the acoustic Demolished Thoughts (2011) and culminating with the epic, two-hour-plus Spirit Counsel (2019). The latter may well be his magnum opus.

Flow Critical Lucidity has moments when it genuflects to Moore’s experimental past. Tracks like “We Get High” retain the distant guitar thunder of his earlier career. Moore tacitly grasps that nostalgia can have diminishing returns as an artistic method, though he also conveys confidence in his accomplishments. The contrasts within his prolific catalog reflect an exploratory mindset, not dissatisfaction. Few guitarists have the versatility to follow such diverse approaches and pursuits.

The coincidence of Flow Critical Lucidity with this summer’s re-release of Tom Verlaine‘s underappreciated late work is illuminating. The two guitarists share a number of qualities, among them being founders of influential bands who gradually undertook highly individual journeys as a means of artistic fulfillment. Unlike Moore’s past work, Flow Critical Lucidity is unconcerned with forging soundscapes for other people. Instead, it is focused on creating a personal space for himself.

“These risks will define your life,” Moore imparts on “Sans Limites”. Few can speak with greater authority on such matters. Flow Critical Lucidity may not supersede his past career peaks. However, it reveals the unbounded possibilities of transformation available to an indispensable musician who has long been committed to his craft. Thurston Moore isn’t finished.