Psychic Hearts is a solo album by Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

 member Thurston Moore

Thurston Moore

Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...

. The album was released in 1995 through Geffen Records

Geffen Records

Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...

. The album has been remastered "for goodness" and reissued in 2006. The 2 record vinyl version of the reissue contains bonus tracks on the fourth album side where on the original vinyl release the fourth side had a drawing by cover artist Rita Ackermann

Rita Ackermann

Rita Ackermann is a Hungarian-American artist.-Early life and education:Rita Ackermann was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1968.Ackermann trained at the University of Fine Arts Budapest from 1989 until 1992...

 etched directly into the vinyl.

The album makes reference to female rock stars Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

 and Patti Smith

Patti Smith

Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

. Many Patti Smith references and tributes have been made by Sonic Youth.

Retrospective reviews

When Psychic Hearts was re-released the next decade it was praised by critic Brandon Stosuy of Pitchfork Media:

Released after Experimental Jet Set Trash and No Star and joined by Steve Shelley on drums and Tim Foljahn on second guitar, Moore's femme-themed solo debut, Psychic Hearts, is a collection of often-beautiful sunset guitar rock. Of his vocal turns, my favorite is the caffeinated, teen-angst/dysfunction of the propulsive title track. Moore's vocals are also particularly swoon-worthy on the whispery "Pretty Bad" and breathy "Ono Soul".
Most of Psychic Hearts, however, works because of the simple repetitions of instrumentals like lilting opener "Blues From Beyond the Grave" and the gently paranoid "(I Got a) Catholic Block" patterning that surfaces between Moore's voice in "Feathers". The centerpiece is the 20-minute instrumental exeunt, "Elegy for All the Dead Rock *s". The track's distinct movements mingle fluidly, swerving into a sideways cascade before bursting and blooming until notes sharpen and a final tidal wave arcs and releases. The noise implosions of its final third are anti-climactic, but after some gentle plucks and slides, Moore grabs his pick and glides into that dark night as gorgeously as he began, only this time with more triumphal drums.

Original 1995 release

1. "Queen Bee and Her Pals" – 2:57
2. "Ono Soul" – 3:28
3. "Psychic Hearts" – 3:59
4. "Pretty Bad" – 3:58
5. "Patti Smith Math Scratch" – 2:43
6. "Blues from Beyond the Grave" – 4:35
7. "See-Through Playmate" – 2:18
8. "Hang Out" – 4:10
9. "Feathers" – 2:20
10. "Tranquilizer" – 2:06
11. "Staring Statues" – 2:34
12. "Cindy (Rotten Tanx)" – 3:46
13. "Cherry's Blues" – 2:05
14. "Female Cop" – 5:24
15. "Elegy for All the Dead Rock Stars" – 19:49

2006 Reissue bonus vinyl tracks

16. "Teenage Buddhist Daydream"
17. "Just Tell Her That I Really Like Her"
18. "The Church Should Be For Outcasts, Not a Church That Casts People Out"
19. "Thoodblirsty Thesbians"
20. "Superchrist"

Personnel

• Thurston Moore – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , guitar, composer, vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , producer
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  

Additional musicians

• Tim Foljahn – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Steve Shelley
  Steve Shelley
  Steven Jay Shelley is an American drummer, best known as the drummer of alternative rock band Sonic Youth.-Biography:...
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Technical personnel

• Rita Ackermann
  Rita Ackermann
  Rita Ackermann is a Hungarian-American artist.-Early life and education:Rita Ackermann was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1968.Ackermann trained at the University of Fine Arts Budapest from 1989 until 1992...
  
   – cover art
  Cover art
  Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
  
  
• Edward Douglas – engineer, mixing
  Audio mixing (recorded music)
  In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
  
  
• Frank Olinsky – art direction
• Lee Ranaldo
  Lee Ranaldo
  Lee M. Ranaldo is an American singer, guitarist, writer, record producer, and visual artist, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth...
  
   – engineer, mixing
• John Siket – engineer, mixing
• Howie Weinberg – mastering
  Audio mastering
  Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...