LP, Reissue, 180g
Geffen Records (2015) EU
Murray Street is Sonic Youth's twelfth full-length studio effort and first to feature the all-out collaboration (writing, playing and production) of the great Jim O'Rourke. Named after the New York street where the band's studio was situated and where a plane engine landed on September 11, 2001, Murray Street finds the band building their signature avant garde explorations within a more song oriented framework. The results are obliquely melancholic yet tuneful and the album moves effortlessly and enjoyably between tones, structures, textures and melodies with new found purpose and precision. Songs like "The Empty Page," "Disconnection Notice," and "Rain On Tin") easily hold their own among the many highlights in SY's vast and varied catalog.