Trees Outside The Academy

Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore follows his band's return to tunefulness, Rather Ripped, with his first formal LP since 1995's Psychic Hearts. Here he takes up an interesting challenge: What can a guy like Moore do with the bare and noiseless architecture of an acoustic guitar and a verse-chorus-verse set-up?

Trees Outside The Academy is Thurston Moore's first album since 1995's Psychic Hearts to feature wall-to-wall pop songs. Other than the distinct voice behind the mic, that's where the similarity ends. Any track from Psychic Hearts could have popped up on a mid-period album by Moore's full-time gig, Sonic Youth. This…

"What am I going to do next for your ears to taste?" a 13-year-old Thurston Moore asks on Trees Outside the Academy's aptly named hidden track, "Thurston @13," on which Moore demonstrates the sound of rubber bands twanging and Lysol being sprayed in the air.

a rough diamond of a grunge album, and any Sonic Youth fan will not be disappointed...With an inventory of intoxicatingly melodic tunes, it looks like ‘Trees Outside The Academy’, Thurston Moore’s first solo album since 1995’s ‘Psychic Hearts’, has lost none of the unorthodox sounds and integrity of Sonic Youth.