To mark the digital release this week of their first new album in a decade, the Throwing Muses are streaming another track off Purgatory/Paradise ahead of its publication as a 64-page book that will include the album on CD on Dec. 3. Below, you can stream the track, one of 32 songs to appear on the Muses’ first album since the band’s 2003 self-titled record.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Throwing Muses return with album/book ‘Purgatory/Paradise’ — hear 2 new songs
- Kristin Hersh announces completion of first new Throwing Muses album in a decade
- Video: Throwing Muses, ‘Bright Yellow Gun’ — filmed live in U.K. during ‘Anthology’ tour
- Throwing Muses announce European tour in support of new ‘Anthology’ best-of
Nice to hear Hersh’s lyrics are as puzzling as ever after all these years. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
I like this track quite a bit. My concern is that music projects of this size (32 songs) sometimes runs the risk of being bloated with filler. Since this is Throwing Muses I am confident the majority of the new songs will be keepers.
The Muses are generally awesome, and I’m certainly looking forward to hearing the whole album. I too hope that despite the sprawl, it sound reasonably cohesive. I can’t recall who produced ‘Limbo,’ but that record really had a clean, coherent sound throughout, and was one of their finest works. I never really warmed up to the self-titled record, so I’ve got my fingers crossed on this one.
But yes: I will buy it. Too many good years enjoying the band and their great live shows not to.
Okay, I’m listening to the record right now. It has a real demo-y, recorded-at-home sound to it, and a mellow vibe. Mostly spare arrangements, none of the aural filigree and studio polish of a record like ‘University.’ (Some chamber strings do slip in on ‘Terra Nova,’ to nice effect.) Also, probably half the 32 ‘songs’ are more like minute-long sketches.
Still, there’s a lot of interesting music here. Fans of Kristin Hersh and her peculiar songwriting gifts won’t be disappointed, by a long shot. Just don’t go in expecting a big-budget production; these are different times.
Ditto on Limbo. Absolutely love that record.
I’ll blind-buy the new album before hearing it, but I am hoping for something “raw”, yet more “cleanly” recorded than the 2003 reunion album.
Yes, it’s definitely much cleaner. It sounds very much like Kristin’s solo album ‘Learn to Sing Like a Star,’ if you know that record.