Hips And Makers - Kristin Hersh (1994)

ideated from: 1994 being the best year in music history

Not a new idea: person who’s fairly famous in a group makes a solo statement record to show that they have layers.

Still, even in that context of everyone from Alex Chilton to David Lee Roth to Eliot Smith, the leader of Throwing Muses turns in a great debut solo record. It’s not straight pop, with plenty of odd angles to the melodies and rhythms. It’s mostly acoustic, with some cello accompaniment (by the go-to rock session-cellist, Jane Scarpantoni, who’s played on about 100 records including Bob Mould’s similar solo statement, Workbook).

It works well to stake out some separate territory from the all-guitar-bass-drums-all-the-time Muses. Hersh is used to more muscular arrangements, which leads to some very interesting song structures, built around riffs that would sound good distorted or clean, and some interesting harmonics (augmented chords, I think but I’m certainly no expert)

Tracks I Liked:

Your Ghost - An all-time favorite, a stunningly haunting song with Michael Stipe backing vocals

Sundrops - a rocker disguised as an acoustic jam

Houdini Blues - an abstract, Dylan-esque dirge

A Loon - two completely different sections married thematically