It might be affectation or necessity, but Thurston Moore has a habit of reading his lyrics from a music stand that could almost be a lectern. It gives this gig the feel of an alt-rock Reith lecture, although rather than reflecting on his influential years with Sonic Youth, the focus is almost exclusively on Moore’s well-reviewed new album, The Best Day.
Insistent opener Forevermore, a curdled love song that stretches to 10 minutes and beyond, proves that Moore’s ability to wring crooked melodies and guttural riffs out of his battered guitar remains undimmed. The 56-year-old makes his innovative playing seem as intuitive as breathing, even when the result sounds like something being strangled.
In 2011, Moore relocated to London and recruited a new band, including Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, My Bloody Valentine bassist Deb Googe and noisenik guitarist James Sedwards. No stranger to anchoring towers of deafening guitar scree, Googe is a natural fit, but Moore and Sedwards seem particularly simpatico. They stalk the stage in persuasive lockstep and trade delicate guitar harmonics like dueling banjos on Speak to the Wild.
“Are we too loud?” asks Moore, and it seems like a fair question. Though often preceded by spare, improvised space-jazz intros, these songs contain so much judder and clatter the effect is like aural fracking. For the assembled faithful, the fact that they also sound a lot like Sonic Youth at the peak of their powers is a bonus. Six tracks are expanded and warped into a bracing, trouser-flapping hour, and the band are encouraged back for two encores. “Play your loudest song!” yells a heckler. “We don’t play songs,” replies Moore. Then they launch into Ono Soul, a vintage Moore track from almost 20 years ago. It still sounds pretty loud.
• At Bodega, Nottingham, tonight. Box office: 0845 413 44441. Then touring.
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