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Lee Ranaldo and the Dust Stretch Out on Fall LP’s Blazing ‘Lecce, Leaving’

Lee Ranaldo and the Dust, 'Last Night on Earth,' "Lecce, Leaving," album, track, Sonic Youth

Lee Ranaldo and the Dust now officially have a fall album on the way in time for their scheduled fall tour, and the first advance track from the record is, appropriately, autumnal. The band teams Ranaldo with Sonic Youth bandmate Steve Shelley on drums, along with guitarist Alan Licht and bassist Tim Lüntze. Matador has announced it will release Ranaldo and the Dust’s Last Night on Earth on October 8 (October 7 in the United Kingdom and Europe). The follow-up to 2012’s Between the Times & the Tides is billed as darker but filled with dazzling electric-guitar work.

Ranaldo certainly shows why he tied for SPIN’s No. 1 guitarist of all-time on “Lecce, Leaving,” our first taste of the album. Though we last heard him doling out non-linear drones on “Boujeloudia Magick,” part of a tribute to the Moroccan group the Master Musicians of Jajouka, here he carves out a fierier, somewhat rootsier path over acoustic strums and psych-rock churn. The nearly seven-minute song goes through multiple parts and also makes room for Ranaldo’s plainspoken introspection. 

Ranaldo says in a statement: “A solo record works best when you feel like you’re opening a window into somebody’s life, experiencing the things they’re going through or thinking about, places they’re seeing, through their eyes. At its best, you find a universality in it.”

Listen the “Lecce, Leaving” below, and check out Ranaldo’s recent appearance on WNYC’s Soundcheck here. (Any interview that mentions the Modern Lovers is probably worth your time.)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TPBFyjmLGk8%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded