| rock/pop Kristin Hersh Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight Kristin Hersh's children must have interesting dreams. This brief collection of Appalachian ballads, loaded with killing, mutilation, drinking and sex, draws on the songs Hersh's Tennessee-born parents sung to her as a child, and the ones she sings to her children now. Given Hersh's musical history, it's not surprising that her approach to these songs isn't exactly New Traditionalist. Despite the plinky piano, clattery two-step percussion, and the odd synth drone which wafts in to liven up the mix, Hersh mainly keeps to the pattern of her solo work, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. But Hersh's shimmery, crystalline guitar sound is more supernatural than Chattanooga County. And despite the twang that creeps in here and there, her voice is still her own: wide-throated, quavering, shedding vulnerability through expressing it. But even if it won't get her on the Grand Ole Opry, Hersh's take is oddly appropriate: her readings encompass both the songs' inherent malice and their odd innocence, like a child finding words for evil she has seen but only partly understands. -Sam Adams |
Originally appeared in the Philadelphia City Paper, Issue #706, November 27, 1998, p 41. |