Thurston Moore Group Details Spirit Counsel CD Boxset

Thurston Moore, founder of rock band Sonic Youth, has a new CD boxset album on the way.

Called Spirit Counsel, the album from Moore’s Thurston Moore Group includes the extended compositions recorded between 2018 and 2019, and laid out on three compact discs, and will be up for grabs on International Peace Day, Sept. 21.

“This collection represents a period of reflection on spiritual matters, collective musical friendships, and a time and space universally, without words or languages to distract from meditation,” a press release explains.

The first CD, called Alice Moki Jayne, explores the noise guitar and honors female jazz greats Alice Coltrane, Moki Cherry and Jayne Cortez.

The boxset takes an orchestral turn with the second CD, Galaxies, in which a whopping 12 guitarists work as one instrument.

“Taking inspiration from a poem by Sun Ra ‘Galaxies’ ponders our place in the universe as we stare into imagery offered by satellites via space agencies,” the release tells us.

Last but not least, the final CD, 8 Spring Street, is Moore’s personal homage to avant-garde composer and guitarist Glenn Branca. The title of the CD is an address in New York City, the apartment where Moore first visited Branca, his mentor, to rehearse.

The set also includes a 20-page artist book of photos and captions edited by Moore that explain the creative process behind the set.

Spirit Counsel will be released by the Daydream Library Series, a new record label founded in 2018 by Moore and Eva Prinz.

And Moore has more to pile on top of the CD boxset. Daydream Library will also offer three 7-inch vinyl singles packaged with fanzines edited by Thurston and Eva. The recordings will be excerpts of the Spirit Counsel sessions and B-sides including Moore’s cover of “New Order.”

Spirit Counsel follows Moore’s 2017 solo album, Rock n Roll Consciousness, and Improvisation, a project with This Heat drummer Charles Hayward, as well as Trident Death Rattle, a collaboration with metal group Twilight.

Check out more information about each of the CDs below, beneath Paste archival audio from a 1991 Sonic Youth show.

CD 1: Alice Moki Jayne
12-string electric guitar army: Thurston Moore, James Sedwards, Jen Chochinov
Baritone bass truth and soul: Deb Googe
Magick drums: Jem Doulton
Electronic Wobbly love: Jon Leidecker
Engineer: Christophe Albertijn
Special thanks to: Radieux Radio, Tommy De Nys, Atelier Claus,
Kraak Records, Fender Musical Instruments, D’Addario Strings
Recorded in Brussels, Belgium in 2019

CD 2: 8 Spring Street
Electric guitar Thurston Moore
Engineer: Syd Kemp
Special thanks to: Radieux Radio, Fender Musical Instruments, D’Addario Strings
Recorded in London, UK in 2019

CD 3: Galaxies
Guitar Army: Thurston Moore, David Toop, Susan Stenger, James Sedwards, Deb Googe, Alex Ward, Jen Chochinov, Jonah Falco, Rachel Aggs, Joseph Coward, Eugene Coyne & James McCartney
Guitar technicians: Beetmol Troy and Matt Tag
Special thanks to: Radieux Radio, Chris Sharp, Abby Banks, Fender Musical Instruments, D’Addario Strings
Recorded in London, UK in 2018