We last saw Kristin Hersh on the Music Project back in #326 where we touched briefly on how 4AD’s Uncut cover disk compilation introduced me to her music.
Having had access to Hips and Makers via Mrs Gnomepants V1.0 actual copy of the album, I decided that it wasn’t really for me or at least that I wasn’t ready for the sound or the music. This was back in the early years of 1999-2003 and offers to see her play at various Liverpool venues were politely declined.
By 2007 the Great Internet Download Free-for-All was in full swing in the UK. I obtained a copy of Learn to Sing Like a Star for Mrs Gnomepants V1.0’s “evaluation” and, following a couple of determined listens, there I was – hooked. Here was an artist that could sing, play guitar AND talk to me – in such a way that only really David Galas had done so before or since. I immediately bought a digital version and then scoured the arts pages of the local presses to see where and when her next tour of the UK would bring her into my proximity. It wouldn’t be until 2022 that I’d finally get the chance to see here in “nearby-but-still-a-distance-from-Daventry” Oxford.
A unique vocal sound, a passionate guitar and a tone of “yeah, well what can ya do” . Awesome
You might know Hersh as either half-sister to Tanya Donnelly or lead singer of Throwing Muses. However, Kristin Hersh came into my life through the Uncut: 4AD compilation album and her song Your Ghost. I was later to hear her first solo album Hips and Makers from which the song came but was not too impressed.
Years passed but I still enjoyed Your Ghost. Then along came Learn to Sing Like a Star. Wow what a difference!Like a fine wine or a port or single malt whisky, Hersh had matured. So when I saw Crooked I had to get it.
Crooked is Hersh’s eighth studio album and she plays and sings with a rich style and many of the songs on this album can be heard on the previously project featured live album Cats and Mice. Worth a listen.
Kristin Hersh is another artist I would probably have never got into had it not been for the Uncut: 4AD cover disk I got in the nineties.
Hersh, stepsister of Tanya Donelly (4AD and This Mortal Coil) and former lead singer of Throwing Muses (also 4AD), has a very unique sound. Her early stuff takes a bit of getting used to but this album, Learn to Sing Like a Star and Crooked show a much more mature and well developed Hersh than her earlier primary release groundbreaking Hips and Makers album.
This is a live album recorded sometime in 2010. As with most live albums, this is an excellent showcase of Hersh’s works spanning some years. I have tried to get to see her in the past, but she never seems to come to Daventry 😦
Cats and Mice – Kristin Hersh
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