THROWING MUSES are joined by Moonlight Concessions cellist Pete Harvey at Glasgow’s Garage, his foreboding strings deliciously contorting around Kristin Hersh’s lyrical turmoil.
It’s almost 40 years since 4AD founder Ivo Watt-Russell signed Throwing Muses after initially insisting he couldn’t take on American bands when speaking to founding member Kristin Hersh on one of his many phone calls to her Boston apartment. Well, it’s a good job they got that sorted out, with many of those here in Glasgow’s Garage tonight finding respite in the band’s unearthly, off-kilter meanderings since the late ‘80s when the Muses were supported by subsequent 4AD signees Pixies. With the departure of Tanya Donelly in 1991 (herself back in Glasgow with her band Belly in September), Hersh has remained at the forefront of the band, alongside her numerous other musical and literary endeavours including her solo work and noise rock project, 50 Foot Wave.
The evening starts out with Hersh’s no.1 choice in Scotland, Glasgow singer-songwriter Beerjacket, aka Peter Kelly, whose subconscious method of songwriting draws similarities to the approach of Hersh, his alt-folk music just how she likes it – unpretentious, honest and delivered with modesty and humour.
Although Throwing Muses have remained a trio since Donelly left, cellist Pete Harvey guests alongside singer/guitarist Hersh, drummer Dave Narcizo and bassist Bernard Georges on new album Moonlight Concessions, and it’s great to see him on stage tonight, setting the mood nicely as his foreboding strings deliciously contort around Hersh’s lyrical turmoil. Otherwise, the touring line-up is a bit of a family affair, with Narcizo and Georges replaced by the familiar sight of former ‘Muses bassist (and Hersh’s partner) Fred Abong on drums, and son Doony on bass…his wee maw rightly proud as punch as he takes to the stage like a fish to water (and boy, does Hersh know a thing about fish). Having spoken to her a few years back before one of her Electric Trio shows with Abong and 50 Foot Wave’s Rob Ahlers , I’m feeling pretty proud for her too, recalling how we shared our worries about our kids growing up, and tonight appreciating just what it must mean to her to have one of her sons by her side as she tours.
New Orleans has been home to Hersh for many years, a city she’s described as being “heavy with sin and pain and joy”, which for me sums up her music perfectly, and something you can almost taste on tonight’s opening number Theremini, aching an unspeakable sorrow before her fiery side lets loose on Sunray Venus, from 2013’s Purgatory/Paradise. Dipping into 2020’s Sun Racket, the soothing lure of Bywater floats tranquilly as heads sway, the lyrics exquisitely defying the ambient mood with lines like ‘Whose goldfish in the toilet? / Don’t flush it, it’s Freddie Mercury…A moustached amputee / Heading out to sea.’ Yep, you couldn’t make it up (unless you’re a certain woman), and that’s just what Throwing Muses fans expect and adore, that poetic sanctuary where a dark beauty collides with the anxious and the absurd.
The set leans heavily on the new album in all its stripped back glory, exposing sneaky, scathing snapshots of every day life in true Hersh style, but there’s a trip back to 1996 for Limbo, Hersh lost in her own reverie under Doony’s brooding bass, before heading to 1991 for one of their biggest hits, Counting Backwards. The unhinged delight of Sun Racket’s Bo Diddley Bridge sees her vocal waver perilously between that familiar fragility and abrasive rasp before the pace drops with the ethereal waves of Sally’s Beauty, Harvey’s strings conjuring up a dreamlike atmosphere. Closing the set, the languid angst of title track Moonlight Concessions illuminates the crowd as discordant melody creates a delicious tension, Hersh’s oppressive intones digging deep on the lines ‘It’s raining like a son of a bitch / Damn sun, shining like a son of a bitch.’ Ah, welcome to Scotland Krissy!
They’re back for a short encore, delighting the crowd with two energetic favourites, leading with the rollicking fuzz of Shark from 1996’s Limbo before one last blast of Hersh’s husky vocal on Bright Yellow Gun, ending another Hersh-led evening of rich musical talent.
Throwing Muses are back in Scotland in August, playing Edinburgh’s La Belle Angele, and if you’re lucky enough to make it to one of the shows on this tour, don’t miss the merch stand with some fab Hersh-approved gear from ElRat Designs, each purchase directly funding Kristin Hersh’s studio time.
Moonlight Concessions is out now on Fire Records.
Words: Shirley Mack @shirleymack.bsky.social
Pictures: Calum Mackintosh @ayecandyphotography