Thurston Moore

It's been more than a decade and about a dozen Sonic Youth albums since 1995's Psychic Hearts, the first solo album from SY frontman Thurston Moore. Now, 12 years later, half of the 'first couple of rock' returns sans-Kim Gordon and with a whole different set of cohorts. His latest, Trees Outside the Academy, features Dinosaur Jr.'s legendary J. Mascis shredding on guitar while newcomer Samara Lubelski's violin playing compliments Moore's hushed vocals.

On Trees, Moore tries to step outside his role in Sonic Youth while still preserving the essential elements that have raised them to cult status: the dissonant chords, feedback loop intros and fluid guitar work are all present, accompanied-most importantly-by the man himself. However, the Moore on this record is less concerned with melting your face off as he might have been a decade ago. On Trees, he explores all facets of the sound spectrum while maintaining his dark, whimsically lyrical style. The title track "Trees Outside the Academy" ends in a swirling noise-fest. On "Silver>Blue," flowing guitars and a crooning Moore melt seamlessly into Lubelski's sighing violin. On "Honest James," Moore and Christina Carter's voices compliment each other as they sing: "Let love take over, you know the devil just ain't that smart."

The album closes with a hidden track of Moore at 13 years old making a sound theater from cans of Lysol spray and rubber bands, a time capsule foreshadowing the future of a rock 'n' roll legend. Now, 30 years later, Thurston Moore has yet again proven that he doesn't need to prove anything. With Trees, he has made a record that is true to both himself and Sonic Youth, and given these past endeavors, that's not a bad thing at all.