Ben Lowes-Smith reviews the Throwing Muses musicians’ solo shows
Kristin Hersh image by Peter Mellekas
There is a hushed reverence in the room tonight that pre-empts how special and intimate Kristin Hersh’s two nights at The Cluny are, and the respect in the room is more than warranted.
Fellow former Throwing Muse Fred Abong’s set is the perfect amuse-bouche, both performers share a considerable set of sensibilities, and Abong’s quietly cathartic songs tap into similar emotional source material.
Kristin Hersh, while being very unassuming, cuts a profoundly engaging presence on stage. Through her gorgeous voice and idiosyncratic guitar playing, we are taken on a whirlwind tour of her considerable back catalogue. Through covers of traditional standards, to scintillating versions of Throwing Muses songs like You Cage and Cottonmouth, Hersh focuses most of her set on her brilliant and overlooked solo material. Most notably, we are treated to a hair-raising rendition of Mississippi Kite from 2010’s Crooked. Embodying the humility of her songs, Hersh graciously slips off stage, leaving an enormously engaged audience the space to bask in the powerful emotional impact of a very special writer and performer.
