The Eternal | Sonic Youth

My review of Sonic Youth’s The Eternal ran today in the Boston Phoenix.

I was a little disappointed in this record. It’s not bad, per se, but it’s a departure from the very fruitful, mature musical thread the band has been following since Murray Street. The Eternal feels like a throwback to the 90s sound of Dirty, another record I enjoy but don’t really hold up as prime example of what Sonic Youth should sound like. Lee Ranaldo has always been the band’s most consistent songwriter, and his two tracks “Walkin Blues” and “What We Know” are strong.