Sonic Youth – Sonic Nurse (2xLP)

Sonic Nurse catches Sonic Youth in a late-career sweet spot where their signature tunings, droning overtones, and intuitive interplay are focused into songs that feel immediate, melodic, and quietly adventurous. The opening run from Pattern Recognition to Dripping Dream has the band threading wiry riffs through patient builds, letting the tension bloom into widescreen guitar climaxes without losing the pulse. It’s an album that treats space as an instrument—rhythms breathe, tones shimmer, and the noise is sculpted rather than sprayed—so the hooks in Unmade Bed and Stones hit harder precisely because the band leaves them room to ring.

What makes Sonic Nurse so rewarding is the way it balances tenderness and bite. Kim Gordon’s I Love You Golden Blue folds vulnerability into vaporous guitar fog; Peace Attack closes with a reflective glow that feels earned after all the serrated edges. Throughout, the quintet’s chemistry with Jim O’Rourke keeps everything clear and purposeful, so even the longer tracks feel navigated rather than noodled. It’s Sonic Youth at their most songful without sacrificing their strange—proof that maturity can sharpen, not dull, their sense of wonder.

Reviews

"Even the staunchest pundits should find something to like on Sonic Nurse, while steadfast devotees are well accounted for by the record's sheer canonical breadth." – Pitchfork

"Sonic Nurse finds them embracing and sifting through the finer moments of their past over the course of 10 outstanding tracks." – PopMatters

"All told, this album is probably the band's best balance of pop melodies and avant-leaning structures since Washing Machine; even if it doesn't rank among their most ambitious work, Sonic Nurse sounds like the kind of album Sonic Youth should be making at this point in their career." – AllMusic

"On the whole, Sonic Nurse compiles a laid-back hour of elaborate plucking and rhythm from five veteran musicians who reserve musical violence and poetic anger for when it feels most appropriate." – The A.V. Club

"But Sonic Nurse was the most consistent and well-made of the 2000s Sonics bunch." – Rolling Stone Australia