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 Kristin
Hersh's solo life -- her "day job" she calls it
-- is ongoing. She's recorded five solo albums - one prior
to, and four since Throwing Muses split: Hips and Makers,
1994 - Sky Motel, 1997 - the internet-only-sold Appalachian
covers collection Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight,
1998 - Strange Angels, 1999 - Sunny Border Blue,
2001, and now a new solo album, The Grotto. Perhaps
the most nakedly acoustic album she's ever made, it was recorded
quick on the heels of the rampantly electric Throwing
Muses album.
Both The Grotto and the new eponymous Throwing Muses
albums are being released on the same day. "I didn't
want either record to suffer delays because of the other one,"
Kristin reasons. "They're related. They were recorded
during the same year, and they came from the same time and
place."
During six months back in Rhode Island immediately following
the death of a close family member, Kristin wrote the songs
that became The Grotto. (The title refers to the
Providence, RI neighborhood where she lived at the time.)
Was its acousticity in direct response to Throwing Muses'
electricity? "Well, yeah, I chose the songs in light
of that fact. They could take that airiness. But I don't write
with intention, I'm not that smart. These songs appeared to
be a different side of the same coin, so I decided to let
this record be as extreme as it needed to be. The contrast
of the hard, fast, raw Muses record and an acoustic, bare,
ambient solo record seemed complimentary."
Kristin was pregnant while recording The Grotto,
and gave birth in mid-November to Bodhi, her fourth son.
Kristin's accomplices on The Grotto were Howe Gelb
(Giant Sand) on piano and violinist Andrew Bird (Bowl of Fire,
and ex-Squirrel Nut Zippers). Kristin plays all guitars. "Andrew,
Howe and I have toured together in the past and they always
seemed like a great couple of people to have contribute to
the right record. The Grotto seemed like a perfect
opportunity. "Our approach to music is similar, but their
perspectives are truly their own and that was valuable to
me. They're incredible musicians. I'm not painting when I'm
playing the piano, Howe is."
"I think it's a very sweet record. Spooky, but sweet.
I said to Billy, 'these songs seem to be about how I can't
leave you'. He thought for a second and said, 'That's nice!'
And it is."
Kristin comments on the album's opening, 'Sno Cat': "Billy
and I had a fight, I couldn't sleep, so I started driving
around, and saw a Snocat, a snowmobile, and this fat guy was
driving it...it was a Zen moment, and I couldn't be mad anymore"
and 'Arnica Montana' "about being banged around in the
tour bus. When we're on the road Billy drives, I do the cooking,
feed the pets and homeschool the kids. We're like The Partridge
Family, only more so".
The family moves around a lot. "We never seem to live
anywhere for more than a year or two." After finishing
The Grotto, Kristin and family left Rhode Island
for Palm Springs, outside Los Angeles in Southern California.
"It was wonderful to have a winter baby in the warm weather."
Doesn't the continual upheaval drive her mad? "No, I
love it. I have a low threshold for boredom."
- Martin Aston, 2003
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