Thurston Moore and underground rock legend Kramer announce album They Came Like Swallows – Seven Requiems for the Children of Gaza, "a prayer to the war-torn souls of the families of Palestine continually decimated by the brutality of genocide"

Thurston Moore and Bonner Kramer — (Image credit: Press)

Thurston Moore and US alternative rock icon Kramer (now officially Bonner Kramer) have revealed details of their first full-length album collaboration, They Came Like Swallows – Seven Requiems for the Children of Gaza.

Previewed by the release, today, of its opening track, Urn Burial, the album will be released via Silver Current Records on May 1. It is available for pre-order now.

The collaboration between former Sonic Youth vocalist/guitarist Moore and Bongwater / Shimmy-Disc Records founder Kramer was recorded in Florida, and is described by Moore as "our soul music for any semblance of a peaceful planet."

"Kramer and I reconnected in Miami, Florida, a few years back, many, many years after each of us had departed NYC on separate life adventures," Moore says. "It was only a matter of time before we started making plans to record together and, with his irrepressible due diligence, he quickly set up a mobile recording contraption in the pad I was decamped in, the Florida sunshine flowing through the palm leaves, lithe lizards skittering across the windowsills, and we just went for it.

"What transpired is They Came Like Swallows, a session we immediately felt should exist as a prayer to the war-torn souls of the families of Palestine continually decimated by the brutality of genocide. We agreed beyond words to offer our music as a sonic activism and as a beneficent energy. This album is our duo-exchange for human dignity."

"I had composed and recorded a few pieces at my home studio over the course of a couple weeks," Kramer adds. "Thurston was spending the winter in South Florida, so I flew down and spent a few days recording his guitar parts in his home there. Watching him spontaneously compose his parts was pretty astonishing, to say the least.

"Once we'd finished working on those pieces, we began improvising and following wherever the music pointed us, and another few pieces were born. We got straight to it, without anything driving us other than the joy of finally working together. My personal goal was to remain present and catch as many surprises as I could from Thurston's guitar work, and there were plenty during those few days. We had a blast."

The tracklist for the album is:

1. Urn Burial
2. The Redness In The West
3. The Third Migration
4. They Came Like Swallows
5. The Living Theater
6. The Oceans Are Crying
7. Insight

Watch the video for Urn Burial below.

Bonner Kramer | Thurston Moore - "Urn Burial" (Official Video) - YouTube

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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

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