'Sunday' supplement

Back in 2017, in response to Thurston Moore's last LP (Rock 'N' Roll Consciousness), I wrote that there were "signs that the young punk is starting to become an ageing hippie" - albeit one who "wears it well".

Three years on, and it's safe to say that the transformation is confirmed by his descriptions of new single 'Hashish' as "an ode to the narcotic of love in our shared responsibility to each other during isolation", and of the forthcoming album By The Fire on which it features as "a gathering, a party of peace" containing "songs as flames of rainbow energy, where the power of love becomes our call".

That's one way to react to "a world on fire", I suppose, but his claim that we live in "a time where creativity is our dignity, our demonstration against the forces of oppression" comes across a bit like the ramblings of a sixth-form stoner compared to the urgent calls to arms from the likes of Algiers. What would the twenty-something hardcore fan have made of it?

Don't get me wrong, I like 'Hashish' a lot - but then so I should, given that it's hardly a radical reinvention (unlike, say, Kim Gordon's latest album). Indeed, as commenters on this Stereogum article have pointed out, the track and particularly the vocals bear more than a passing resemblance to Sonic Youth classic 'Sunday'. No doubt I'll enjoy the album, but it would be an ironic shame if creativity is finally starting to desert Moore just as he's making a point of its political value.