Why did this album happen now—did
you feel like things were fermenting, laying dormant?
Things weren’t really fermenting. They got
rolling really quickly, and it just kept going
from start to finish. I’ve given up asking
myself why it happened the way it did. It
was very naturalistic and unforced—and
really fun. The songs had a genesis in an
invitation to do an acoustic show in the
south of France. I figured I’d do some
Sonic Youth songs, but then this song
popped up out of working on those, and
then a few more came out of that, and
I started thinking maybe I’d do a solo
acoustic record with some singing. But one
thing led to another, and the next thing
I knew Steve was playing on some things
that sounded like band stuff. Then Irwin
[Menken, bassist] came over and it just
happened. It was pretty magical.
I was really excited to get Alan Licht—
who I play with in a lot of different improvisational contexts—in there, too. He’s an
amazing guitar player, and I never get to
hear him play straight-ahead leads—but he’s
so good at it, it’s incredible. Nels and John
Medeski really round things out on guitar
and organ—in a monster way, obviously.
Given that this is your first foray into
solo singer-songwriter work, did you
approach the guitar work differently than
you would with Sonic Youth?
Even though I overdubbed some leads, I
was really just focusing on playing rhythm
guitar and letting Alan or Nels take solos or
countermelodies. I wanted to do less. The
songs were written on acoustics, and some
had intricate picking patterns that were
integral to the song, so I did a lot more
purely rhythm work than I might have in
Sonic Youth.
Keith Richards once talked about dread-
ing playing alone after being in a two-
guitar band for so long. Given how many
years you’ve been locking horns with
Thurston [Moore] in Sonic Youth, did
you share that apprehension?
I didn’t really just because they were songs
I’d started playing alone. But I also knew I
didn’t want to be the only guitar player, and
I thought Alan and Nels could really add
something to these songs. But there’s also
a lot of keyboard, which sets it apart from
Sonic Youth and changes what the guitars do
to some extent. It changes that dynamic and
the way we all approached the guitar layers.
You’ve worked with Alan and Nels in
improv situations for years. Now you’re
working in the context of compositions
and songs. Did you react any differently
to each other?
It wasn’t different at all, which was so cool.
They were just so inventive with the simple
demos I gave them. Alan came back with
these parts that were exactly what you’d
want a second guitar to play—picking
when I’m strumming, strumming when
I’m picking. His parts really locked the
songs together. And Nels did coloration on
Ranaldo onstage with a Travis Bean TB1000S. Photo by David Emery
everything from smoking leads to loops and
stuff—just incredible.
Parts of it really evoke a Neil Young/
Steven Stills- or Tom Verlaine/Richard
Lloyd-style interplay.
Those are such major touchstones for
me. Alan actually played with Tom, so he
knows that dynamic well. But, yeah, get-
ting in that territory is a thrill—especially
with Alan and Nels, who can really do
anything between them.
At times, the tunes have a David Crosby-or Joni Mitchell-type feel—there’s often a
melancholy feel but also something that’s
