Lee Ranaldo :: The System (OST)
Photo: Nick Sayers
Profoundly prolific and catastrophically creative, legendary guitarist, visual artist, and Sonic Youth co-founder Lee Ranaldo needs no introduction. Besides, I couldn’t write anything that hasn't already been said, like the dizzy dribble of the past, when desperately describing Ranaldo’s captivating career. So we’ll start with his latest effort and complex contribution to Dutch filmmaker Joris Postema’s 2025 film “The System,” and see what happens at the end. Featuring various musicians and iconic individuals such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Brian Chase, Jim Jarmusch, Balazs Pandi, and Avish Cohen Rodrigues, to name a few, Ranaldo takes listeners through the hallucinatory hallways and the sinking side streets of the mind’s meditative mysteries, where pain, psychedelic perspective, and strength dwell in the borderlands of our brains. Following a similar sonic structure to Jarmusch’s beloved 1995 acid western “Dead Man,” “The System” heroically highlights the political pollution, inequality, and climate crisis of our weary world through the eager eyes of three tender idealists on an endless quest for peace and universal understanding. Trailing in the footsteps of Henk Ovink, an international water diplomat in New York, Pippi van Ommen, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion in Amsterdam, and Tadzio Müller, a Berlin-based climate activist and anti-fascist, Postema and Ranaldo’s captivating collaboration sincerely solidifies the injustices of society while simultaneously showcasing the bottomless beauty of the people, places, and things that make life this truly tragic yet transcendent tale of existential existence and guitar-driven delight. Carefully captured at several locations including NPRX in New Jersey and Lazy Eight in NYC, October 2024-April 2025, with additional recordings made at Studio M in Moss, Norway; Mount Allison University Chapel in Sackville, New Brunswick; and Stone Tapes/Breezyland Studios in Brooklyn.
“Change doesn’t come from above, but from people who keep trying in spite of everything. I hope this film doesn’t just confront viewers, but also encourages them. That it helps them to feel what’s at stake – and what’s still possible. That in the stories of these three people, they recognize something of their own longing for justice, for connection, for a future. And that they come away strengthened by the knowledge that, even in a world that feels increasingly threatening, change is indeed still possible.”
This almost biblical body of work slips through the cold iron bars of the system’s sophisticated setup, unnoticed by even the most advanced technology and security systems that have made damn sure the most innocent individuals know that the digital eye is weighing down upon their heads. While it may seem like the world is literally burning, and there’s nothing we can do to stop the feverish flames from rising to the doorsteps of the heavens, never underestimate the epic efforts made by those who dare challenge the fascist regimes and their paralyzing politics. Featuring tracks like “Bergelmir,” “Instruments Of Violence,” “The Cusp Of The Change,” and, of course, the album’s oscillating opener “Tajikistan (Nice To Meet You),” Ranaldo brings together the listeners and latitudes and longitudes that make up that revolutionary rainbow that lies dormant in the ancient atmosphere above. Released on Ethan Miller’s brilliant imprint, the Oakland, California-based label Silver Current Records, a frequent collaborator and liberating location for Ranaldo and Sonic Youth-related relics, “The System” is an alchemical albatross that floats just below the scientific sun, but never mistake the spiritual screams of the guitar feedback fumes that leak from the speakers of your stereo, or phone, and directly into the holes in your head where the melodic message is crystal clear.
Photo: Peter Gannushkin
