Strange Angels

Entertainment Weekly - "...Hersh returns to the scene of 1994's stunning HIPS AND MAKERS for another set of sparse chamber folk. That record's emotional vortex is slowed here with songs that look outward as often as in....solo, she's making her strongest music ever." - Rating: A- Option - "...STRANGE ANGLES is among the most interesting work she's done....her lyrics are still witty and surreal, and her music is still strong and curiously asymmetrical..." Magnet - "...Embracing the expressionistic, surreal and formal qualities of the everyday, including all the shades of gray in between, her musings are three-dimensional--the perfect combination of sweetness and dark." Musician - "...reflects the pleasingly quirky personality of its creator....a pure, stripped-down, seemingly stream-of-consciousness collection, from both a musical and lyrical standpoint....achieves its ambitions of comfort, warmth, and cohesion..." Spin - 6 (out of 10) - "...Many of the songs sound almost medieval, like hipster shepherdess ditties. Hersh's voice, with its pleasantly crinkly, pleated-paper vibrato, is more than adequate to the task of navigating the side-winding passages and false bottoms of her tricky song structures..." Rolling Stone - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...vintage Hersh, full of mood-swing intensity and dreamy reveries....the arrangements are even sparser than on HIPS AND MAKERS, but the melodies are more developed. They work their way under the skin, and sometimes...they pierce the heart."

Due to economic reasons, Kristin Hersh reluctantly disbanded the Throwing Muses in 1997, claiming that the trio could no longer afford to tour and record. So, she was essentially forced back to recording a solo acoustic album in the vein of Hips and Makers, her revelatory 1994 solo debut. Strange Angels isn't the equal of that minor masterpiece, partially because the songwriting, while solid, is a little samey, but also because Hersh sounds as if she'd rather be with the Muses. That's not to say her performances are bored -- they're often more inspired than the last Muses album, Limbo -- but they have a melancholy undertone and are occasionally a little listless. These, however, are minor flaws, because Strange Angels is overall a strong collection of songs. Hersh's obtuse, poetic lyrics remain a little impenetrable, yet her melodicism makes them intriguing, even for the curious. And for some longtime fans, that may be a problem -- Strange Angels is the most accessible album in her catalog, because her vocal idiosyncrasies are tamed and the production is a little too clean. Perhaps these are signs of maturity, or perhaps it's an attempt to gain a wider audience, but either way it's a mixed blessing, because the songs cry out for a more varied production to make the record more compelling. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine|