New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Daydream Library Series record label has released "The Diver," Thurston Moore's last song for the summer before upcoming album Flow Critical Lucidity, out on September 20. Moore describes the captivating yet tragic track, featuring lyrics by Radieux Radio, bass player Deb Googe (My Bloody Valentine) and percussionist Jem Doulton (Roisin Murphy): "The Diver' ends the album with the actual story of a diver lost underwater in Lake Geneva while these songs were being written. The diver was exploring the deep, researching a world at mercy to human disruption, only to be found days later, his life having succumbed to the wild. The song concludes the album, a repetitive piano figure like a call, a ringing, an alarm of melody."
To celebrate the album's release, an in-store performance and signing has been set for September 22 at Rough Trade East in London, as well as an album listening party in Dolby Atmos at the legendary Olympic Sound Studios on September 20. Moore will be returning to the scene of his recently-published memoir Sonic Life with New York events on December 1 at The 92nd Street Y with Anthony DeCurtis, plus a special week of improvisation from December 4-7 at The Stone in NYC and more below.
The album's title comes from a lyric in previously released single "Sans Limites" featuring vocals by Lætitia Sadier of Stereolab. The album sleeve cover art features Jamie Nares' 'Samurai Walkman' — a helmet befitted with tuning forks. Born in Great Britain, Nares is a lifelong friend of Moore from his New York No Wave days, the two often collaborating in art & music.
Fans of Sonic Youth & Thurston Moore will be delighted to learn that all tracks from the album will be released via all streaming platforms with a selection of bonus songs exclusive to the physical release on vinyl, compact disc & cassette. Past singles from the album include the cerebral "Hypnogram" and stirring Earth Day anthem "Rewilding," as well as bonus track on flexi of the LP edition, "Isadora" with a music video starring Sky Ferreira.
On May 10, Thurston Moore surprised ticket holders of his show at an experimental listening room OTO in North London with a secret guest. Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones joined Moore for two sets of wild improvisation and is inciting concert. Thurston has confirmed live appearances in 2024, including reading engagements of his recently-published memoir Sonic Life and a carefully curated selection of live concerts with his group currently comprised of Alex Ward on guitars & clarinet, Deb Googe on bass, Jon Leidecker (aka 'Wobbly') on electronics and Jem Doulton on drums.
2024 Live Dates: September 20: Album listening party @ Olympic Sound Studios (London, UK) September 20: 'Sonic Life' Q&A @ Barnes BookFest - St. Mary's (London, UK) September 22: Album Launch Party - Thurston Moore Group Live + Signing @ Rough Trade East (London, UK)
October 1: Thurston Moore Duo with Hamid Drake @ Bozar (Brussels, BE)
November: 'Sonic Life' Q&A @ Miami Book Fair (Miami, FL)*
December 1: Thurston Moore in Conversation with Anthony DeCurtis: Sonic Life @ The 92nd Street Y (New York, NY)*
December 4-7: Thurston Moore curates The Stone (New York, NY)
Flow Critical Lucidity Track Listing:
1. New in Town
2. Sans Limites +
3. Shadow *
4. Hypnogram
5. We Get High
6. Rewilding
7. The Diver
Bonus track on flexi of LP edition: Isadora (Bedazzled Mix)
Thurston Moore moved to New York at eighteen in 1976 to play punk. He started Sonic Youth in 1980. Since then Thurston Moore has been at the forefront of the alternative rock scene since that particular sobriquet was first used to signify any music that challenged and defied the mainstream standard. With Sonic Youth, Moore turned on an entire generation to the value of experimentation in rock n roll - from its inspiration on a nascent Nirvana, to Sonic Youth's own Daydream Nation album being chosen by the US Library of Congress for historical preservation in the National Recording Registry. Thurston records and performs in a cavalcade of disciplines ranging from free improvisation to acoustic composition to black/white metal/noise disruption. He has worked with Phill Niblock, John Paul Jones, Yoko Ono, John Zorn, Bobby Gillespie, David Toop, Cecil Taylor, Faust, Glenn Branca and many others. His residency at the Louvre in Paris included collaborations with Irmin Schmidt of CAN. Alongside his various activities in the musical world, he is involved with publishing and poetry, and teaches with his partner Eva at The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, Boulder CO, a programme founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman in 1974. Thurston also teaches music at The Rhythmic Music Conservatory (Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium) in Copenhagen.
The Daydream Library Series independent record label has just celebrated five years in operation! Thurston & Eva founded the label in 2018. They have released music by electronic musician Xopher Davidson, Caribbean jazz shoegaze quartet Seafoam Walls, the debut EP from Devon Ross, the debut album by Schande, a sound-healing recording by Katherina Bornefeld, and a 7-inch by Miami's bilingual beauties Las Nubes.
