Kristin Hersh’s new album is a cinematic road trip; a series of personal vignettes from a fiercely independent auteur, sitting plush with layers of all- consuming strings and mellotron.
It’s a watershed moment in a career overflowing with creative firsts and inspirational thinking; an elegant piece of personal reportage, a home movie caught in time. Previously, the juxtaposition of light and dark has been essential to the drama of Throwing Muses and 50FOOTWAVE, but this solo set is something of a departure; more inward looking, quieter but outspoken, underpinned by background noise for ambience and awkwardness. “Passion sounds less angry, more grateful, I think,” Kristin muses, “sweeter, sadder. And somehow, no less alive… over car engines and rain in New England and whistling ducks and wind chimes in New Orleans, it all sounds wistful to me.”
“Clear Pond Road” is a life-affirming statement, a further part of the jigsaw, a very personal memoir, from street signs to snapshots; a late blossoming and coming-of-age from a true icon of independence. The record is both intimate yet expansive, written largely within the confines of Hersh’s home, making the proceedings ever more personal.
“Deliciously dark and yet full of an elegant lightness, this is Hersh at the top of her considerable game” ★★★★ Uncut Magazine
“Stunning” The Wire: Adventures In Modern Music
“Personal, passionate and quietly intimate” MOJO
“Simple and propulsive” Stereogum
“Fierce but intimate, pretty but lacerating… it comes with 30 years of rock and roll life behind it.” Aquarium Drunkard
“A wonderful record … Hersh has parlayed subcultural innovations – and sometimes abyssal bleakness – into something with incredible longevity, depth and beauty.” ★★★★★ theartsdesk.com
“Her powers of observation and capacity to live within her art, which combined with her capacity for communicating sincere emotion with her audience, goes a long way to explain Hersh’s enduring appeal.” The Quietus
“A stripped down look into intimate moments of Hersh’s life. It pays homage to all the little pieces that make up the concept of living” Under the Radar
“Resisting convention, it refuses to be pinned down” ★★★★ Slant Magazine
“Beautiful” BrooklynVegan
“A rather quiet affair, a finely arranged album full of bittersweet love songs” Rolling Stone Germany
Kristin Hersh’s new album ‘Clear Pond Road’ is a cinematic road trip; a series of personal vignettes from a fiercely independent auteur, plush with layers of atonal, edgy-dreamy strings and mellotron. It’s a watershed moment in a career overflowing with creative firsts and inspirational thinking, an elegant piece of personal reportage: a home movie caught in time.
The Fat Angel Sings 