Throwing Muses

(This article’s English version was produced with AI-assisted translation)

A good way to listen to, describe, and understand “Moonlight Concessions”, the eleventh studio album by Throwing Muses, is to think of Nirvana’s “Unplugged in New York.” The new project by the historic American alternative band indeed evokes that atmosphere: all that’s missing are the lit candles to recreate that quintessential grunge setting — which, after all, emerges in the spirit as much as in the sound of the album.

Perhaps Kristin Hersh didn’t have this in mind when she wrote the album alone in various locations across the American South, following up the trio’s most recent album — “Sun Racket” (2020) — as well as her own solo record “Clear Pond Road” (2023). But the effect of this short tracklist of nine songs, clocking in at under half an hour, is to cast us straight back into the ’90s. Without, of course, forsaking the signature sound of Throwing Muses.

The album’s arrangements combine acoustic guitars with the usual bold rhythms and unpredictable chord changes, enhanced by orchestral touches and a rock sensibility that’s always melancholic rather than aggressive — often resulting in a shadowy, misty wall of sound. Towering over it all is Kristin Hersh’s raspy voice, delivering her lyrics like poetry performed on stage, in front of an audience — not inside a studio — with intimacy and emotion.

Among the standout moments are the delicate and ethereal “Theremini”, with its dreamy string arrangements and vocals lost in otherworldly echoes; the punchy acoustic alternative of “Libretto”, heavily grunge-inflected and reminiscent of something Alice In Chains might have included on their “Jar of Flies” EP; and the contemplative rock of the closing title track, which serves as a coda to a deep and intimate collection.

The contributions of the other two band members — David Narcizo (drums) and Bernard Georges (bass) — are minimal and entirely in service of Hersh’s vision, as she once again shapes the project into a personal musical adventure, making Throwing Muses her primary expressive outlet. Yet the whole is so cohesive and the sonic elements so well blended that we hardly even notice.

This new Throwing Muses album confirms — if confirmation were still needed — the band’s status as a resilient, enduring presence in the alternative scene: the kind of group you seek out and turn to when you crave something “different,” even if you’re not quite sure what that means. That “different” is (still) here — in acoustic form, steeped in poetry, and full (once again) of unpredictable shades.

28/06/2025