Customer Reviews

Sky Motel

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's a sad truth that Throwing Muses will probably never really reunite, and listening to "Sky Motel" serves to remind us of the majesty, creativity, and absolutely phantasmagoric mood of Kristin Hersh when she's standing in front of a band. Although "Sky Motel" sounds more like a Throwing Muses album than a Kristin Hersh album, it still has that undeniable quirkiness and eerie spook that is present in every chord Kristin plays, and every phrase she utters. "Sky Motel" experiments with different sounds, including the lounge-y "Echo," and even sports an actual radio-ready pop song in "A Cleaner Light." But more impressive are the grinding melodies of "Cathedral Heat," the nothing-short-of-brilliant lyrical play of "Costa Rica," and the kind of love song that only Kristin Hersh could write, "Spring." Kristin obviously misses her Muses, and it's no wonder: she is powerful and masterful when accompanied by a band, as "Sky Motel" gracefully proves. But she is more than capable of carrying the torch on her own, even when playing with a fuller sound than we hear on "Hips and Makers" or "Strange Angels," let alone the stripped-down "Murder, Misery, and Then Goodnight." Throwing Muses was always Kristin's vehicle, of course, and her solo work is only another side of a brilliantly tossed coin. "Sky Motel" is a daring combination of the best of her accoustic work and the most catchy of her Throwing Muses days. "Nothing like chrome when it shines." Indeed!

SKY MOTEL, Kristin Hersh's third solo album, is the first to feature electric instruments. As a result, it brings the listener back to the fondly remembered days of her band Throwing Muses.

Hersh's songwriting on SKY MOTEL is as strong and idiosyncratic as ever, but the electric guitars and David Narcizo on drums give each track an added punch that make this her most accessible solo effort yet. The powerful "Echo" makes an excellent opening. "A Cleaner Light" is a rarity in pop music, a track that is both artistically viable and radio-friendly. "Cathedral Heat" is perhaps the album's highest peak, as Kristin sings "kissing in the middle of a terrible storm." The quiet "Faith" trails off to mark the end of this worthy album.

Forgetting about individual tracks and looking at the album as a whole, this disc takes time to grow on the listener, but it ultimately satisfies. Kristin Hersh's lyricism is certainly out of the ordinary, but once you get the core essence of the album, it all flows well.

For those who have yet to hear Kristin, I would recommend this over her two previous solo albums, HIPS AND MAKERS and STRANGE ANGELS, as the electric guitars of SKY MOTEL give it a wide range of appeal.

Amazon made a mistake with the track listings - this is what they really are:

1. Echo
2. White Trash Moon
3. Fog
4. Costa Rica
5. A Cleaner Light
6. San Francisco
7. Cathedral Heat
8. Husk
9. Caffeine
10. Spring
11. Clay Feet
12. Faith

It's a really good album, not Kristin's best offering, but still 99% better than most of the junk on the radio. Some of Kristin's most rock-style songs are here featuring her usual brand of witty poetic lyrics, that beautifully raspy voice and some sonic experimentation - notice the chirping crickets which both open and close the album. If you're a first time Kristin listener I'd recommend "Sunny Border Blue" or "Strange Angels" first, and later checking out this album and "The Grotto."

... It's a direct revealing of her soul to the listener , one would say and indeed he would be right .

A complicated musician none the less , Hersh is no newcomer to the female rock scene . She is being fronting The Throwing Muses for years now and has already released five albums as a solo artist . Her records owe much of their charm to the power of her personallity . She is a woman who has " battled her own demons " and won , saw visions and illusions which caused her physical pain while writing many of her songs and all that long before all these female musicians started pretending to have 'mental disorders' just so they could sell some records . She is the real thing . She has always been honest with her public and she deserves credit for it . Never really did she seem to care about topping the charts or anything even remotely close to that . Much of her previous stuff is totally anticommercial , especially one of The Muses' latest releases , 1996's Limbo .

" Sky Motel " now is a record as enigmatic as they go . It contains a number of melodies locked into their own private universe ( " Costa Rica " , " San Francisco " ) . What is really difficult to understand is the mood the gifted singer is in while singing lyrics like " God bless the ugly / cheap champagne and blackjack on the bed / i was born in America / born with the fists of a saint ... " . Is she sad , cynical , dissapointed , happy or maybe all these together ? Ofcourse that doesn't mean that Hersh's virtues as a singer-songwritter aren't many because they really are and always present in each and everyone of her albums . " A Cleaner Light " brings in mind some of The Muses' best moments like " Bright Yellow Gun " , " Hush " is mysterious and haunting while " Cafeine " is melancholic and in it's own way romantic ( " I feel your heart beating / i hear your soft breathing " ) .

In conlusion ? ... Well it's actually hard to end up to a single simple conlusion about singers like Hersh . The music , the tortured voice , the lyrics all add up to something deeply personal which is natural not to sound appealing for everyone . One thing is sure though : artists like that shouldn't be ignored . Understanding the essence of their work is a challenge , exploring their thoughs is an experience .

It's not Throwing Muses, it's not Kristin acoustic, it's Kristin electric and without a band. Sky Motel is a departure from Kristin's past material, and she enters the next phase of her career using drum loops and playing all the instruments (except for drums). It's great to hear Kristin playing electric again and it seems like it's great for her to be playing her Fender again. As she sings in 'Echo', "I crave the very loudest sound...". While Sky Motel is different from anything else Kristin has done, it's still the same Kristin we know and love. Her songs are intense yet sweet, pretty yet rockin'. A song like 'Cathedral Heat' will draw you in, deeper and deeper, as it's intensity builds until you lose yourself within it. 'Echo', the first single, takes you on a joyous ride through transitions and stops and starts. The catchy 'A Cleaner Light' would make a worthy follow-up single. Overall this is a strong album that makes a nice place to start for a new listener or a great addition to a current fans collection.

This disc is a beautiful and unsettling masterpiece. I can't get "Echo" and "Cathedral Heat" out of my mind. It suffers somewhat from being over-produced, but only because just Kristin and a guitar is all I would need. Check her out live if you can.

Okay, I'm at work, but I just have to review this right now while I'm listening to it. Like most Kristin Hersh and Throwing Muses albums, this one didn't make a lot of sense to me the first time I heard it. Full-band? Huh? What's she on about? But given the chance at rediscovery, I'm really starting to dig it pretty deep. This record is just delicious, chock-full of tantalizing hooks and intriguing innuendoes; just one more reason why Kristin Hersh is one of the greatest (and most popularly overlooked) songwriters and musicians of our time. You lucky jerk. It's a high.

Is this CD as good as "Hips & Makers?" Maybe or maybe not but it is better than just about everything else in the singer/songwriter category that's come up recently. We could opine on the comparisons between these two CDs but at some point we're splitting hairs. One thing is clear though. What goes on in Kristin Hersh's head is the lords own private mystery. She has an ability to tap into a stream of conscious that turns me green with envy. Her signature moving bass line finger style guitar playing has a voice all its own that fits perfectly with her eclectic poetry.

Couple of my favorite tracks on this album. "A Cleaner Light" and "Cathedral Heat" are excellent and stand up to some of her best work. I'd give this 5 stars for those two tracks alone. Must haves.

Kristin Hersh has dug deep and managed to combine the best of the Throwing Muses and her solo work in one album. As a longtime fan who was slightly disappointed with her last solo release (Strange Angels), this album definitely did not let me down. Intoxicating.