Guitarist Lee Ranaldo Talks The Future Of Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth’s guitarist Lee Ranaldo recently spoke to Rolling Stone about the uncertainty of the group’s future since the split of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore’s marriage.

Both Gordon and Moore, who were married for twenty-seven years and have a teenage daughter together, made the announcement last month that they have decided to divorce.  Sonic Youth’s record label, Matador Records, also admitted they were uncertain about the future of the group that formed back in 1981.

Lee Ranaldo, who just dropped his ninth solo album entitled ‘Between the Tides and the Times’ this past March, was quoted as telling Rolling Stone, after a South America tour, that the future of the group is somewhat of a mystery at the moment.

“It kind of remains to be seen at this point what happens to the future. I think they are certainly the last shows for a while and I guess I'd just leave it at that.”

Trying to stay positive about the fate of Sonic Youth, Ranaldo also added, "I'm feeling optimistic about the future no matter what happens at this point. I mean, every band runs its course.  We've been together way longer than any of us ever imagined would happen and it's been for the most part an incredibly pleasurable ride. There's still a lot of stuff we're going to continue to do."

Before playing their last show for awhile, the band did talk about working on a follow album to their last 2009 studio effort ‘The Eternal’.  It looks like that won’t be happening for a while, leaving Sonic Youth fans in limbo.  However, Ranaldo’s positive take on the group’s split does give some hope.