Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo has spoken out about the future of the band.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, which you can listen to below, Ranaldo confirmed that he was currently working on digitising the band’s 30 year archive – as well as a potential deluxe edition of their 1987 album Sister and a live film from 1985.
“I’m on good terms and talking with everyone,” he said. “But there’s definitely a lot of stuff shaking out right now.”
He continued: “There’s ways in which the four of us will be tied to each other for so long, in so many ways. As far as new recordings or new performances, it’s completely impossible for any of us to say right now. It’s such a tender thing for us right now that none of us are even thinking along those lines.”
In October last year, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon announced that they were separating after 27 years of marriage. The announcement raised doubts over the future of Sonic Youth after their record label Matador revealed that plans for the band remained “uncertain”.
Speaking of this, Ranaldo said: “I think after 30 years – unfortunate as it was the way it came about – maybe it’s a good time for an extended break. If we do come back together, I imagine we’ll be rejuvenated in a bunch of different ways and maybe looking to explore new avenues at that point. It’s impossible to say what the future holds there.”
Earlier this month, Thurston Moore unveiled the second track from his new band, Chelsea Light Moving. The song “Groovy & Linda” follows the band’s first release “Burroughs”, which is inspired by the last words of Beat author William Burroughs.
As well as Moore, the band also features Keith Wood on guitar, Samara Lubelski on bass and John Moloney on drums. They are currently working on their debut album with record label Matador.
Moore and Kim Gordon are also set to release a mini-album with Yoko Ono, titled YOKOKIMTHURSTON. The six track album will be released on September 24 and will reportedly feature the 14-minute long single “Early In The Morning”.
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