"One of the great, unearthly voices in American underground-rock history... an absolute trip... an eerie and powerful song with sparse instrumentation that gives that voice plenty of room to operate"- Stereogum
"Hersh has no one left to surpass but herself... The world is jealous" – Pitchfork
"One of indie rock’s most fascinating figures" - The Guardian
"Raw and revealing" - The New York Times
"Kristin Hersh has built a career on fascinating and compelling lyrics" - PopMatters
"Kristin Hersh is a once in a lifetime inimitable, unrepeatable, irreplaceable star in the contemporary underground-music constellation. Fueling her songs with admirable rawness, angst, humor, passion in her mesmerizing unrelinquished voice she has been recurrently crafting an opus magnum of treasures." - INDIEVOTION
The incredibly gifted singer/songwriter and author Kristin Hersh has announced the first single "Soma Gone Slapstick" from her forthcoming solo effort “Wyatt at the Coyote Palace”. The new single is premiering in The Quietus. This double CD/ book combination will be released by Omnibus Press in the UK, Australia and New Zealand on October 28, 2016 and in the USA and Canada on November 11, 2016.
"I heard Soma move through seasons: fall on the rebound, a manic spring, a cruel winter, and through places: California, Chicago, New Orleans, a protest march in Koreatown. When I finished, it was dawn, my engineer and I had coffee and I walked home through fat flakes falling down instead of sideways. Goofy + falling + precise + muscular = soma with a healthy dose of slapstick," says Kristin Hersh, who currently resides in Rhode Island.
“Wyatt at the Coyote Palace” is the third release in the ground-breaking book-CD format that Hersh began with her previous solo album “Crooked” and Throwing Muses’ 2013 release “Purgatory/Paradise”. Since sharing essays and tour diaries on her own website, she has published the critically acclaimed “Paradoxical Undressing” in the UK (released as “Rat Girl”in the USA), a children’s book “Toby Snax,” and “Don’t Suck, Don’t Die,” a personal account of her long friendship with the late Vic Chesnutt, which earned her rave reviews.
“Wyatt” is a collection of true stories and songs of love and loss, combining Hersh’s humor with the pains and travails of a life spent constantly in motion. Defined by potent guitars, addictive melodies and poignant lyrics, this release is a serious sign of strength and depth, bringing the listener into what the BBC calls Hersh's "dark and dizzy world."
Recorded in at her favorite studio in Portsmouth, RI with engineer Steve Rizzo at the helm, Hersh performs and creates all instruments and sounds on this 24-track opus, including guitar, bass, drums, piano, horns, cello and even field recordings. While the songs were written in the last 5 years over a turbulent period in her life, the prose was inspired by her son Wyatt, who is on the autism spectrum, and his fascination with an abandoned apartment building inhabited by coyotes. Wyatt often visited and even filmed the coyotes during the recording of the music, yet suddenly his intense fascination came to an end.
Hersh comments, “I had so loved his love of the place. Throwing Muses' drummer, Dave - my best friend since third grade - decided that Wyatt needed to encapsulate his sense memories of the coyote palace, make the experience finite, like bottling a memory. Dave thinks we'll see it again, and Wyatt's love of the place will come back, when the images have been filtered through Wyatt's intense and fascinating psychology.”
Kristin Hersh is most recognized as the front person for the influential art-punk band Throwing Muses, which she founded at the age of 14 in Providence. Hersh has spent quality time confounding expectations and breaking rules - both hers and others. From life as the reluctant front person for the Muses to the solo career she launched in 1994, which she swore would never happen, to founding an ambitious altruistic nonprofit and her recent foray into a surprisingly successful new career as an author, Hersh continues to push herself to the boundaries of her artistry and imagination. She also currently fronts the power trio 50FOOTWAVE, founded in 2004, having released six mini-albums, including the 'Bath White' EP in summer of 2016.
In November, she returns to the UK and Ireland for a rare solo acoustic tour in support of her new release, with an additional date just added in London due to popular demand. Her subsequent U.S. tour kicks off in Seattle on November 29. “An Evening with Kristin Hersh” celebrates her endless creativity with readings and songs spanning her entire career.
UK/IRELAND TOUR DATES:
Nov. 1 - Dundalk, Spirit Store;
Nov. 2 - Dublin, Pavilion Theatre;
Nov. 3 - Cork, Triskel Christchurch;
Nov. 4 - Galway, Roisin Dubh;
Nov. 5 - Limerick, Dolan’s Warehouse;
Nov. 7 - Portsmouth, Wedgwood Rooms;
Nov. 8 - Bristol, Lantern Theatre;
Nov. 9 - Exeter, Phoenix;
Nov. 10 - Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach;
Nov. 11 - Aldershot, West End Centre;
Nov. 12 - Louder Than Words Festival, Manchester;
Nov. 13 - Manchester, Gorilla;
Nov. 14 - Leeds, Brudenell Social Club;
Nov. 15 - Birmingham, Glee Club;
Nov. 16 - York, Crescent;
Nov. 17 - Edinburgh, Summerhall;
Nov. 18 - Glasgow, The Mackintosh Church;
Nov. 19 - Liverpool, Philharmonic Music Hall;
Nov. 20 - Hebden Bridge, Trades Club;
Nov. 21 - Norwich, Arts Centre;
Nov. 22 - Brighton, Komedia;
Nov. 23 - London, St John in Bethnal Green;
Nov. 24 - London, St John in Bethnal Green;
Nov. 25 - Folkestone, Literary Festival;
USA TOUR DATES:
Nov 29 - The Triple Door - Seattle, WA;
Nov 30 - Mississippi Studios - Portland, OR;
Dec 3 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA;
Dec 4 - Echoplex - Los Angeles, CA;
Dec 5 - Brick 15 - Del Mar, CA;
Dec 8 - Swallow Hill Music - Denver, CO;
Dec 9 - Cedar Cultural Center - Minneapolis, MN;
Dec 10 - Space - Evanston, IL;
Dec 11 - Music Box Supper Club - Cleveland, OH;
Dec 13 - Club Café - Pittsburgh, PA;
Dec 14 - Jammin Java - Vienna, VA;
Dec 15 - Tin Angel - Philadelphia, PA;
Dec 17 - Rough Trade - Brooklyn, NY;
Dec 18 - The Sinclair - Cambridge, MA;