Sonic Truth: Lee Ranaldo at Nome Gallery in Berlin
After decades of creating a rock legacy, guitarist, producer, and Sonic Youth co-founder Lee Ranaldo blossoms into a new genre of experimentation, seamlessly marrying music with visual art and sending a message to all makers to remain true to themselves, no matter what.
His newest release In Virus Times is the product of soul-searching against the backdrop of vacant streets, scraping the bottom of the barrel for ultimate authenticity–achievable only inside the solitary stillness of a world gone quiet.
Leah Singer and Lee Ranaldo at the opening of Vinyl Drypoint Prints at Nome Gallery in Berlin. Photo by Camille Moreno.
Ranaldo’s exhibition Vinyl Drypoint Prints at Nome Gallery in Berlin presents a collection of prints using old vinyl records as plates for drypoint engraving. Curated by Luciano Chessa, the show also corresponds to In Virus Times, tying his visual practice to music and sound making. The acoustic instrumental piece was composed during the peak of lockdown. During this time, Ranaldo was inspired to express the isolation he felt–isolation felt the world over. He recorded the album with no studio, just a couple of mics in a quiet, unlit room of his home. Coupled with the anxiety of the impending Trump-Biden election, the album reflects his mental state at the time, which he describes as “dark, isolated, and minimal.” (1) The first 2,500 editions of the album came with a signed, numbered print of Ranaldo’s rendition of a Covid-19 molecule.
Lee Ranaldo, In Virus Times Album Art. The image is based on an electron microscope shot of the Covid-19 virus. Photo by Camille Moreno.
For a musician, the noiselessness of the lockdown city was both a blessing and a curse. With theatres and concert halls being some of the first “nonessential businesses” to shutter, musical events became a distant memory. Music, however, did not go away. Sure, everyone remembers the Italians serenading one another from their balconies, Elton John’s whimsical Zoom open-mics, and even the cast of Hamilton getting in on ‘lockdown rockdown.’ More importantly, many people, not just artistic professionals, used isolation as an opportunity to hunker down, dig deep, and get to work–creatively, that is.
Leah Singer and Lee Ranaldo at the opening of Vinyl Drypoint Prints at Nome Gallery in Berlin. Photo by Camille Moreno.
Time previously spent commuting, socialising, or general faffing suddenly became available. The abundance of time facilitated production, whereas the confinement necessitated processing. Unlike the pre-lockdown music landscape, which entailed sweaty venues, curated grunge looks, and backstage passes, the mid-lockdown value system got flipped on its head. Grunge came naturally. People stopped wearing pants. There was no one left to impress, and “VIP access” meant snagging an early morning slot at the grocery store. We came face to face with ourselves, which is arguably the most terrifying confrontation of all. It was the ultimate test of authenticity.
The authenticity is reflected in the album, which has a mellow, relaxed quality. Instead of being created under the pressure of a deadline, the production was casual and natural–almost incidental. Ranaldo adds, “I was just playing for myself at that moment. Later, when some people heard it, it became clearer that it could be a record.” (2) The music, though sometimes heavy and melancholic, is punctuated by the lightness of occasional whistling, giving it a fun and buoyant undercurrent.
The album and the exhibition are inaugural events in the multi-part sonic project entitled Sounds and Traces, also curated by Chessa, a composer, conductor, audiovisual performance artist, and music historian. Chessa and Ranaldo have collaborated before, namely for a 2009 Performa Biennale commission, The Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners, where Ranaldo debuted It All Begins Now (Whose Streets? Our Streets!).
As part of the event, Ranaldo performed an informal live concert inside the gallery to an intimate crowd. He spoke to the room offhand, offering anecdotes about the songs as children scurried back and forth and a diverse mix of art-crowd-meets-music-hipsters sat cross-legged on the floor, sipping cold beers. The performance felt easy and familiar, just the kind of occasion we may have longed for during lockdown–a welcome togetherness as the world continues to adjust to virus times.
(1) (2) Joyzine Interview with Lee Ranaldo link.
Vinyl Drypoint Prints is on view through 10 September at Nome Gallery, Potsdamer Str. 72, 10785, Berlin.
Camille Moreno
Features Co-Editor, MADE IN BED