May 14–21, 1998

six pick

Kristin Hersh

Kristin Hersh's solo work might not feature the dynamic shifts and shrill moments that characterized her recordings with the Throwing Muses, but it still has a flair for drama. Her voice, once emboldened by jangly punk-pop arrangements, is given room to lament and pine on her most recent album, Strange Angels (Rykodisc), with bare-bone accompaniment of acoustic guitar, cello and piano. Her voice dips with the fear of a child singing about lost friends and rises with the brazen ache of a bluesy troubadour relating the poetry of a hard life. As the title of the album implies, there's a ghostly and spiritual quality to its campfire ballads, one that should hold up nicely in the intimate setting of the Tin Angel.

Kristin Hersh, Thu.-Sat., May 14-16, the Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 928-0978, call for times.

-Neil Gladstone