Today, the stream of Sonic Youth’s The Eternal went live for those participating in Buy Early Get Now, with the actual physical release date set for June 9th. Bearing in mind that I’m one of those odd sorts that favors Bad Moon Rising and EVOL over Daydream Nation and what came after, these are my impressions on the new album:

“Sacred Trickster”, the album’s single, is a standard-fare Sonic Youth track (not a bad thing, mind you), with all the elements you might expect: a sort of dissonance meshed with noisy hooks, though Kim’s vocals have a revitalized punch and already audible is the significant improvement here over their last release, Rather Ripped, in 2006. “Anti-Orgasm” comes across like an expansive neo-Sister track, guitar-centric, with trade-off vocals and the song slowly, brilliantly trailing off into oblivion after the mid-way mark. “Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)”, dedicated to the Beat Generation poet, breezes by with some existential pondering, while “Antenna”, my favourite here, sounds set to become regarded as a true Sonic Youth classic, described best over at Matador Records as a “melodious ode to fleeting fantasy and unresolved desire with the sound of two analogue radios communicating the emotional action”.

“What We Know” is another key highlight here, acerbic and rough-edged, with yet more maddeningly sharp guitar work. “Calming the Snake” filters through both the krautrock and hard rock influences of the band, eerie in its delivery and sounding stretched beyond the mere 3:36. “Poison Arrow” is a bit of “Sacred Trickster” part 2, a decent enough track, but sounding like filler amidst epic tracks like “Antenna” and “Calming the Snake”. “Malibu Gas Station” starts off coolly, though would have been more effective had it been shortened in length, as it’s not before long that it turns meandering and repetitive. “Thunderclap (For Bobby Pyn)” (Pyn, better known as Darby Crash, was the vocalist for the Germs) is a rallying, punky piece, and “No Way”, described by Thurston Moore as having ‘a total Wipers vibe’, was the first song written for The Eternal, and feels like the most focused of the lot. “Walkin Blue” gets back into “Leaky Lifeboat” themes, adding to the album’s post-apocalyptic atmosphere. “Massage the History” is quite the closer: breathy, haunting beauty encased in dreamlike walls of sound all around.

Overall, The Eternal feels just as much a return to form as a tribute to their influences- while slightly uneven, it is absolutely enjoyable and worthwhile for the gems that it contains.

Buy Early Get Now: Sonic Youth - The Eternal