Amid uncertainty about
Sonic Youth’s future,
intrepid alt-rock pioneer
Lee Ranaldo plows ahead
with Between the Times
and the Tides—a solo LP
that finds the Jazzmaster-
toting icon collaborating
with Nels Cline and avant-
rock composer Alan Licht
on songs that deftly bridge
pop, avant, and the singer-
songwriter ethos.
BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
Photo by Stefano Giovannini
premierguitar.com
Among dedicated Sonic Youth fans, it’s long been something of an inside joke—“the
Lee song.” Almost as a matter
of ritual, it’s been the last song
on side one of the LP, concealed deep within the glorious
cacophony. Yet it always seemed
to serve an artful purpose in the
grand scheme of every Sonic
Youth record. After a few doses
of the band’s signature harrowing howl and the feral yowl of
bizarro-tuned Jazzmasters and
Jaguars, the Lee song was a
FEATURE > LEE RANALDO
breather, the eye of the storm, an
emotive touch, and often a touch
of pop/rock classicism amid the
cyclone swirl. Many Lee songs are
classics in the Sonic Youth canon—“Mote” from Goo, “Karen
Koltrane” from A Thousand
Leaves, “In the Kingdom” from
Evol. And they gave every Sonic
Youth album a depth, weight,
and beautiful counterpoint to the
band’s more unbridled side.
Sonic Youth’s future is now
uncertain. Lee Ranaldo the
songwriter, however, may be just
Cont’d on p. 115
