Lee Ranaldo releases expanded album of climate documentary “The System”

Lee Ranaldo, co‑founder of Sonic Youth, has reworked his original soundtrack for Dutch filmmaker Joris Postema’s environmental documentary “The System” into a newly sequenced album. The digital edition is available now, with black and coloured vinyl slated for release on 2 October. The expanded record adds previously unreleased material recorded during the film’s sessions, including tracks such as “Something Beautiful to Live For” and “The Conference”, and reshapes the score into a broader study of guitar, drone, improvisation and tension.

The album features a range of collaborators – Leila Bordreuil, Jim Jarmusch, Brian Chase, Yonatan Gat, Balázs Pándi, Raül Refree, Avishag Cohen Rodrigues and Marc Urselli – extending the work beyond a solo effort. Track titles reference the documentary’s themes, with pieces like “Tajikistan (Nice to Meet You)”, “Berlin Blockade”, “Instruments of Violence” and “Cool Water”. The film follows three climate activists confronting entrenched political and economic structures, and the music mirrors both the hope and despair of that struggle.