KRISTIN HERSH
Sky Motel
| KRISTIN HERSH |
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Kristin's last major record, "Strange Angels", was a disappointment to these ears. A lot of things which made Throwing Muses great were lost in a samey album of acoustic doodlings. It took about 1 minute 33 seconds of the opening tack 'Echo" for me to realise that everything was going to be OK with 'Sky Motel'. That's how long it takes for Kristin's ELECTRIC guitar to put in appearance.
It's reasonable to say therefore that the last Muses album, the underrated "Limbo", is more of a reference point than "Strange Angels" and this is borne out by the limbobo feel to tracks "Echo" and "Costa Rica" on the first half of this CD. There's also some great Muses style pop - the soaring "A Cleaner Light", with its wah-wah lead guitars and vocals which delay finishing the important line a few beats. Similarly "Fog" is an uptempo number, albeit it very brief.
Elsewhere Kristin's started cramming more than one song into songs again - a very welcome sign indeed. So whilst "Costa Rica" starts off very like a "Limbo" track, it goes very quickly into more layered territory with its "You lucky jerk" bridge and heavy guitar.
Side two is something of a departure from the more poppy first half. "Cathedral Heat" is the weirdest song on the album, you're never quite sure where it's going after it's opening bars, which sound quite like early Throwing Muses.
This might seem a problem - the constant reference back to the Muses, but for me the originality of the Muses means that the similariites on this record are still so unique that they are a breath of fresh air. The second half is all like that - hard to pin down, from the obscure gear changes of "Cathedral Heat" to the gorgeous guitars of the moving closing track "Faith".
Which brings me to the charge that this record may seem so damn normal to long-time Krisitin fans. Bullsh*t - if anything it only proves that the mainstream has moved closer to Hersh (in as much as there's some half-hearted Kristin wannabes who have sold a few records), but the Muses impersonators should move over - the real deal is back.