Aside from a 2008 European tour and an appearance at the R.E.M. tribute show last March, Throwing Muses have remained relatively quiet since the final tour dates in support of their 2003 self-titled eighth studio album.
Seven years later, the Kristin Hersh-led Rhode Island alt-rock outfit is eying a new release. But, like the Swans, they need your help:
“The band I started when I was fourteen, Throwing Muses, never broke up. We never suffered “creative differences,” we didn’t get complacent and sucky; we’ve always adored each other and were driven to play good music together,” Hersh wrote in a lengthy letter recently posted on the band’s website. “But touring and recording both cost money and don’t always make enough to pay the bills, so eventually, we could no longer afford to work. Happily or sadly, we were at the top of our game when we made the decision to stop.”
She continued: “Songs don’t care how much studio time you can afford, though; they just keep singing themselves at you. And I know a Muses song when I hear it: intricate and dynamic, they’re easy to spot. When one came to me, I would learn it and then put it away. The Muses songs I’ve collected over the years had nowhere to go, so they just sat — on demos, in notebooks, in my head. There are dozens of them. Sometimes, I’d play them solo, but I knew better…they needed to be in the Muses’ hands. I just didn’t believe that was an option.”
However, Hersh, along with partners Donita Sparks, Robert Fagan, and Billy O’Connell, has since started CASH Music, a nonprofit organization building open-source tools and services to benefit artists and music organizations, and now the prospects of a new Throwing Muses album might actually be an option.
“Now with the help of CASH and my Strange Angels, it looks like the Muses may work again,” Hersh noted. “We’re certainly willing — breathless with anticipation, actually — and the songs are just as vital as I remember them. If this band that never belonged in the music industry could finally make music without the industry, it’d be a real coup.”
Now, as slicing up eyeballs reports, fans can become “Strange Angels” by subscribing to Hersh and co.’s upcoming endeavors — packages range from $30 per quarter (free music and guest-list spots) to $5,000 (executive producer credit on her next album).
To further entice prospective subscribers, Hersh has posted “Sunray Venus”, “the first is the first in a series of demos that the band will be hearing, playing along with, tearing apart.” Check it out below.
You can read Hersh’s letter, in its entirety, here. We’ll update you as more information becomes available.
Check Out:
“Sunray Venus”
