Sonic Youth- The Diamond Sea

The Diamond Sea (Washing Machine, Side B)
Sonic Youth
DGC Records 1995
Listen on Spotify

Which is more surprising- that Sonic Youth released a lead single that evoked descriptors like “stunning” and “beautiful,” or that they did so in the form of a twenty-minute symphony of scarcity? Yes, this is the same Sonic Youth that comfortably reside at the precipice of post-punk grunge music, who have made a career out of accentuating the abrasiveness of supremely talented instrumentalists and, for lack of another word, love to beat the hell out of their famous Jazzmaster guitars.

Unbeknownst to anyone else, hidden underneath layers of angst, sex-drive, and pulsating rhythms, was a desire to bring out the intimacy in their music, and it culminated in the most contemplative and expansive song the band ever recorded. That isn’t to say that it’s quiet, but it is much more methodical and pensive than the majority of its previous work. The trademark screeching of frantic guitars still makes appearances, but that isn’t the point. Rather, the piece is a powerful sound experiment that takes the focus away from traditional song structures and towards the murkiness of the band’s characteristic and idiosyncratic guitar sounds.

“Time takes its crazy toll,” Thurston Moore sings to begin the spectacle that caps off the positively-viewed Washing Machine. He is right, of course, after reflecting upon a period that saw him and Kim Gordon, also a singer and guitarist in the band, get married and have their first child. In contrast to Gordon’s voice, which at its most crass is almost unintelligible, the song showcases Moore’s delivery as crystal clear and ethereal in its two short appearances. Alternating between words of warning (“You reflected into his looking glass soul/ Now the mirror is your only friend”) and offering advice (“Sail into the heart of the lonely storm/ And tell her that you’ll love her eternally”), the delicate lyrics are both surprising and comforting.

What sets the song apart is its dedication to continuity in its textures. From the onset, the wah-wah sounds of delay effects signal a commitment to the group’s ethos- noise creation, atypical guitar tunings, and the organized chaos of extensive reverberation and feedback loops. The trio of guitars (Gordon, Moore, and the irreplaceable Lee Ranaldo) wander around the unusually subdued percussion of drummer Steve Shelley; at times droning and swirling without a sense of direction, and at others strutting and interweaving in a more traditional sense.

To the unfamiliar listener, the notion of intimacy and acute focus carry an enormous asterisk- the song embodies intimacy in a Sonic Youth sense. After all, this is the same group that was influenced heavily by ferocious noise bands of the 1980s like The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. In other words, the song still contains the grunge-laden hardcore themes of past successes and influences, only with a fragility unseen to this point in their careers.

By the time Moore’s voice returns for a brief intermission after seven and a half minutes of jamming, we are reminded that the listening experience did not happen in a vacuum- time actually has passed us by, and the imagery (“look into his eyes and you shall see/ why everything is quiet and nothing’s free”) is as vast and daunting as the allusions to the sea. This idea materializes in sonic form through reverb-drenched noise that fills the remaining twelve minutes. It ebbs and flows, fades in and out, and casts an aural shadow that begins at a lull and  eventually swirls into the suffocating but deeply intriguing feedback that fans have grown accustomed to. It’s fascinating, terrifying, maddening, and exactly why Sonic Youth is one of the most ingenuitive bands of its era.

“The Diamond Sea” is a winding tour through the ideas that have sparked the now-split band’s enviable triumphs. Moore’s lyrics are surrounded by a brief pop melody that brings back early memories of Daydream Nation. Ranaldo finds himself at his consistent best playing with and off of Gordon. The unfurling and volatile noise that closes the track is what listeners knew they always wanted. The song is less a fork in the road than it is a line in the sand. This is who they are. The courage to paint that picture in a bold, new way is deeply satisfying.