Kristin Hersh Learn To Sing Like A Star CD

Kristin Hersh's albums--mostly acoustic, quiet in volume if not spirit--have always stood in stark contrast to her more frenetic work with Throwing Muses (and even her other side project, the punky 50 Foot Wave), but as of 2007 the lines had blurred. LEARN TO SING LIKE A STAR is a cohesive work that blends masterly songwriting, deft acoustic and electric guitar-picking, and complex arrangements with strings and percussion. It brings the bewildering ferality of the Muses to the more deliberate, composed quality of her solo work, for a listening experience that is intense from start to finish.

Recording information: Stable SOund Studio, Portsmouth, RI.

Photographer: Dina Douglass.

Personnel: Kimberlee McCarrick (violin); Martin McCarrick (cello, strings); David Narcizo (drums).

Audio Mixers: William Sender; Steve Rizzo; Trina Shoemaker; Mike Paragone.

Rolling Stone (p.67) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The haunting, plaintive 'Sugar Baby' builds to a cathartic climax, and 'Under the Gun' conjures a long night filled with fever dreams."
Spin (p.84) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Hersh reconnects with her arty folk-rock roots..."
Q (p.112) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[H]er personal planet, a landscape of doomy guitars, unsettling strings and an Appalachian chill, is still rich mining territory."
Uncut (p.82) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Though garlanded in elegant strings, it's as furiously seething a record as she's made in 20 years."
Alternative Press (p.136) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Saturated with stark realism, her confessionals and fictions mark the grueling aftermath of pop's lovey-dovey daydreams."
No Depression (p.121) - "The soaring chorus to the opening track, 'In Shock', stays with you; 'Sugarbaby' is a delicious bit of ear candy..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.102) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "LEARN TO SING LIKE A STAR boasts the familiar strengths -- that distinctive, spine-stroking voice, startling, vivid lyrics and prickly emotions."