
If Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are the “cool” ones of Sonic Youth, then Lee Ranaldo is the “mysterious” one*. Lee’s generally quiet, allowing the garrulous Moore to be band spokesman. A song or two of his is featured on nearly all of the studio albums but the songs are abstract vignettes populated by cryptic acts and ambivalent characters. When on stage, he’s fully connected to the band and to the music but seeming to be transmitting his signals from a reclusive, internal space, his wild, silvering hair and collection of effects making him look like a tinkering scientist. Despite thirty years in rock and roll, it’s easy to wonder about Lee.
I am a big fan of Lee. His contributions to Sonic Youth over the years have been, at worst, dependable, and, at best, transcendent. When I’ve seen Sonic Youth live, I’m always on Lee’s side of the stage. Though my focus will drift to Thurston, his mop swaying as he shreds away, to Kim, snarling as she bounces in high heels, to Steve, locked in and pounding away, and to Mark, grinning infectiously, it always returns to Lee. What’s Lee playing on this part? What’s that strange little box he’s using? As a man with silvering hair, a penchant for making noise on guitar, and a natural reticence, it’s no stretch to say I like Lee because I’m like Lee.
When I found out Lee was putting out a solo singer-songwriter album, I was pumped. I wondered what it was gonna be like. A collection of the kind of abstract vignettes he’d been making with Sonic Youth, or something out of the blue, made entirely of samples and synths? After hearing the lead single, “Off the Wall”, I was pleasantly surprised. This wistful slice of folky power-pop had me thinking he was going with something similar to Thurston’s first solo record, Psychic Hearts. My excitement was sustained.
I’ve listened to Between The Times And The Tides several times now and it has grown on me. The folky sounds of “Off the Wall” pervade with acoustic guitars sharing space with electric, organ rising and falling, Steve Shelley’s surefire drumming, and bits of country twang. Noise and abstraction have been exchanged for 70s FM radio and directness. There’s nothing like the aural car crash of “In the Kingdom #19” but there is a frank and winsome love song like “Stranded”.
It’s by no means a great record but it certainly doesn’t warrant the 5.2 rating given by Grayson Currin on Pitchfork. I agree with Currin on the lyrics. When I heard the “I don’t wanna throw a wrench in the works/ But this whole town is full of jerks” couplet I cringed. Ok, so there isn’t going to be lyrics crafted out of spam emails and the cut-up technique. That’s fine. Lee’s going for directness on this album. However, you can be direct without being hackneyed. Sadly, Lee makes this mistake too often. What I don’t agree with Currin on is the general mediocrity of the album. I think this assessment comes from expectation. Tides isn’t that collection of Lee Sonic Youth songs. It’s not particularly adventurous or volatile in its sounds. This is well-traversed ground that Lee is walking through. But to him, I imagine this is adventurous. Here’s a guy who’s been using alternate tunings and harnessing noise for thirty years. A straightforward album of guitar pop for Lee Ranaldo is experimental. And it’s not a bad bit of straightforward guitar pop. In addition to “Off the Wall”, there’s “Fire Island (Phases)”, a rocker that shifts gears a few times, incorporates that country twang, and has a welcome Neil Young influence, “Xtina As I Knew Her”, which actually comes close to being a Lee Sonic Youth song, a brooding tale of a lost girl, “Tomorrow Never Comes”, the Beatles-referencing closer with one of the album’s most memorable melodies, and the lush and lovely “Stranded”.
Between The Times And The Tides continues the mystery of Lee Ranaldo. Just when you think he’s going to churn some digitized babble out of that strange effects box, he picks up an acoustic guitar in traditional tuning to sing a love song. It may not be cool but it’s certainly intriguing. And as you drift from the cool to the mysterious, you might notice that the “mysterious” one was really the “cool” one all along.
*Mark Ibold is the “happy” one and Steve Shelley is the “Steve Shelley” one.