Review: Throwing Muses, Throwing Muses

Tracks like “Mercury” and “Pretty or Not” explode into their respective choruses while others are simply noisy and boorish.

Throwing Muses, Throwing MusesSix years after disbanding due to financial reasons, Throwing Muses are back with a new self-titled album that finds them rocketing forward with the fervor you’d expect from a new band. Adding to the effect is Throwing Muses’s lo-fi, live-quality recording and muddy mix. Singer Kristen Hersh’s vocals are often buried beneath her wailing guitar, which is a shame considering how arresting her lyrics can be.

Hersh has a way of making everything, particularly relationships, sound more melodramatic than they should (she sings, “Sprawled here/Eleven years, 44 seasons/We came unstuck and it stung,” on “Speed & Sleep”), but after almost two decades, isn’t that why we love her? And drummer David Narcizo and bassist Bernard Georges help make Hersh’s off-kilter songwriting even wackier. The band switches violently between keys and time signatures and the effect is akin to listening to a group of musicians with Attention Deficit Disorder.

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Tracks like “Mercury” and “Pretty or Not” explode into their respective choruses while others are simply noisy and boorish, but it doesn’t make the album any less of an exhilarating experience. Hersh often seems like she’s struggling to form a hook or wrap her voice around a melody, ultimately wailing like a banshee, so the appearance of former member Tanya Donelly on several songs, including “Half Blast,” adds a much-needed sweetness to the proceedings.

Score: 
 Label: 4 ad  Release Date: March 17, 2003  Buy: Amazon

Sal Cinquemani

Sal Cinquemani is the co-founder and co-editor of Slant Magazine. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Village Voice, and others. He is also an award-winning screenwriter/director and festival programmer.

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