By the Fire is the thirteenth solo studio album by the American musician Thurston Moore, released on September 25, 2020, via The Daydream Library Series.
Recording Most of the album was recorded by Kristian Craig Robinson at Total Refreshment Centre, London. Otherwise, "Breath" was recorded by Paul Epworth at The Church Studios (also in London), and both "Calligraphy" and "Dreamers Work" were recorded in Paris, France.
Title Moore claimed that the album's release was a political act, saying "Any time you put out a record,... that's a political move. You're actually engaging in a social world. I called it By the Fire because of that. [It's] the idea of people sitting around a fire and dialoguing."
Release By the Fire was released on September 25, 2020, by The Daydream Library Series. It subsequently peaked on the UK Independent and Scottish Albums Charts at no. 10 and no. 49, respectively.
Critical reception
The review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave the album a weighted average score of 7.6 out of 10 from fourteen critic scores.
Stuart Berman of Pitchfork praised the album and said of its almost ninety-minute length: "it's a record that justifies and even demands the extra space to explore." Daniel Sylvester of Exclaim! was less effusive, calling the album "boring and tedious".
Track listing
Personnel Credits are adapted from the CD liner notes.
Musicians Thurston Moore – guitars (all tracks), vocals (except 9) Deb Googe – bass (1–4, 6, 8, 9), background vocals (3) James Sedwards – guitar (1–4, 6, 8, 9) Jem Doulton – percussion (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) Steve Shelley – percussion (3) Jon Leidecker – electronics (6, 8, 9)
Technical and design Eva Prinz – production (all tracks) Syd Kemp – recording at Total Refreshement Centre (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) Kristian Craig Robinson – recording at Total Refreshement Centre (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9) Paul Epworth – recording at The Church Studios, London (3) Randall Dunn – mixing at Avast, Seattle (3) Tibo Javoy – mixing in Venice (5, 7) Lasse Marhaug – mastering (all tracks) Laurent Orseau – photography Niko Bruggemans – artwork
Charts + Chart performance for By the Fire Chart (2020) Peakposition Scottish Albums (OCC) 49 UK Albums Sales (OCC) 40 UK Independent Albums (OCC) 10
References
External links