Kristin Hersh: Sky Motel

For a songwriter whose projects have generally kept her on the cultish side of success, Kristin Hersh sure does take a lot of risks. Hersh and her band Throwing Muses had long remained college-rock favorites, but last year, after determining the project financially unviable, she finally pulled the plug on the group. Fortunately, Hersh had already established a solo career that managed to both satisfy fans of Throwing Muses and expand her base. Her haunting acoustic 1994 debut Hips And Makers, eventually followed by 1998's equally entrancing Strange Angels, stripped the music down to its most skeletal essentials, bringing Hersh's already bare emotions even further to the forefront. This new direction even led to a stunning collection of rearranged Appalachian ballads, Murder, Misery And Then Goodnight, and with those spare covers, Hersh seems to have purged herself of the need for absolute simplicity. The new Sky Motel retains the most intimate qualities of Hersh's other solo records while at the same time deviating from their strict acoustic instrumentation. Hersh's voice has always been pretty remarkable, crooning and belting at the same time, but her acoustic venture seems to have inspired an even greater confidence in her singing. Similarly, while Throwing Muses always traded in unique arrangements, the songs on Sky Motel are as eclectic as ever. The first track, "Echo," begins subdued enough on a bed of gentle percussion and acoustic guitar, but soon adds pounding drums, fuzzed effects, and a few moments of oddly disquieting dead silence. "Costa Rica" starts out somewhat light, enhancing the surreal lyrics about drugs, love, and lions, but then bounds into an unexpected detour reminiscent of Brian Eno's droning guitar opus "Baby's On Fire." Other songs, such as "A Cleaner Light" and "Clay Feet," in many ways recall Hersh's former labelmate The Pixies, minus the hyper-dynamic bombast. While it's too bad Sky Motel probably won't perform any better than her other releases—Murder, Misery And Then Goodnight was as likely a potential breakthrough as any, and that album was only available on the Internet—it's great that Hersh continues to follow her muse and hone her personal and enigmatic music.