Day 6: A song by your favourite band
Throwing Muses - The Visit
I have no idea why Throwing Muses are my favourite band. I’ve never really thought about it. They always just felt so natural in that position that I never felt a need to analyse why. Would you ever really need to? Surely knowing that something “is” can be enough to know that it’s true? Obviously that wouldn’t fly in the science world, but this is art and I think truth there is much more objective and much more easier to identify.
This song is probably my favourite song by them. It’s currently my most played track from them in iTunes. It’s odd that it is, because I wouldn’t call it at all representative of their work overall. But your favourite track by a band isn’t supposed to be representative of their work, it’s supposed to be representative of why you like them, and if you listen to this, I think it’s fairly clear why it is my favourite. Today, at any rate.
Throwing Muses - Two Step
This track, which closes their album “The Real Ramona”, is the only track which has ever been credited as written by Throwing Muses and not either Hersh or Donelly. As Tanya left to form Belly following this LP, there’s something about this track that always just says “end of an era” to me. There’s something else curious about the song too - it’s so very much not a Throwing Muses song. It’s not as raw/energetic/grating/confronting as a track written by Hersh. Neither is it as pop-driven/accessible/bright as a track written by Donelly. I think the co-write here is spot on. It’s unequivocally a Muses track, and maybe it’s just because I’m looking for them but you can see the spawning here of both frontwomen’s future sounds. The squalling guitars here are as good as anything on Throwing Muses’ “University”, the simple and heartfelt execution on a par with Belly’s sublime “Stay”. It was the first Throwing Muses song to make me sit back and go “huh” because it truly felt greater than the sum of its parts. And what a set of parts.
two step behind the rest / one fingertip too long
a hole in the box they carry / spills sugar in the road
Throwing Muses - Devil’s Roof
I woke up with this song in my head, and it stayed there all day, and now it’s spinning on my turntable.
Throwing Muses - Fever Few
I think I turned a pretty good day a bit weird this evening. Who knows. This song seems to fit.
For a long time this was pretty much the only song on ‘University’ that I liked. That’s definitely no longer true, but it’s still one of my favourite songs from the band.
I’ve always liked songs that are the same chords throughout, with the exception of the bridge. B major. C major. D major. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now.
Maybe you should take this stuff away from me.
Throwing Muses - Devil’s Roof (Acoustic)
As part of the release of her book “Rat Girl”, Kristin Hersh has recorded, with Throwing Muses, acoustic versions of some of the tracks referenced in the book. If you’re not aware already, “Rat Girl” is a memoir/diary style of thing of very early Throwing Muses prior to the release of their first album back in 1986.
This song has always had a charming quality for me, and it works acoustically definitely, but it was also the first song they played when they toured last year so I was immediately transported back to a hot little tent set up in Hyde Park Barracks thinking “holy crap, that’s Throwing Muses right there, and they’re fantastic”.
You can download the entire “Fall” Season Session here. Please, do. And check out her book “Rat Girl” (which is being released as “Paradoxical Undressing” in the UK) if you enjoy autobiographies, or clever storytelling, or writing about bands, or all of the above.
