Lee Ranaldo - Electric Trim (Mute) 2017
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Lee Ranaldo returns with Electric Trim, his twelfth solo album and believe it or not it’s another leap forward in his long and evolutionary career as a songwriter. Electric Trim is Ranaldo’s most personal and collaborative effort, featuring guests like author Jonathan Lethem who contributes lyrics to most of the songs, Sharon Van Etten (who sings backup on six songs, including a duet on “Last Looks”), drummer Kid Millions (aka Man Forever), friend and collaborator Nels Cline (Wilco) and fellow Sonic Youth member Steve Shelley, just to name a few.
His love for experimental noise is still there, but there’s a different shift on the melody. This effort sounds catchier, but also more exploratory, and we can’t ignore how much he has improved as a singer. Overall, Electric Trim is probably the strongest album of Lee Ranaldo’s post-Youth solo journey.