Kristen Hersh - Learn to Sing Like a Star (Album)
For me this title is unfortunate. For a singer with a 20-year career consisting of fifteen albums both solo, and with bands Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave, I would think Hersh would be singing like a star indeed.
Having read the touching anecdotes in the press release about the effect of various floods on Hersh’s life, I was all geared up to be impressed by a singer with such a remarkable career. The description of the production process where “no sound went down on this record unchallenged” sounded promising indeed.
My previous exposure to Hersh limited to the ethereal ballad “Your Ghost” she duetted on with Michael Stipe many years ago, I was primed for a new discovery – a new favourite singer.
Unfortunately, the singing is the major weakness on this record. The years have not been kind to Hersh’s husky voice. Either years of touring have ripped her vocal cords to shreds, or she has smoked two packs a day for twenty years. To this reviewer, who has personally experienced vocal problems, this sounds painful, like every sound is an effort to push out. Rendering it - despite the considered production and solid writing – almost unlistenable.
Lyrically the album is also a bit too angsty for my liking, and somewhat incoherent. Some may say it’s poetry but to me “could you ever live in a body?/just chicken I guess” doesn’t really flow. It is almost like she has put a bunch of random phrases in a hat and pulled them out to create each song. “Your fight gone/it’s harder then/a guttural hack/spit flying/how do you spell that with vowels?” It’s all a bit arbitrary to me.
To her credit, Hersh played everything but the drums and strings on the album. Instrumentally, it is well put together, but sadly, it is the short instrumental interludes which hold my attention the most. Vertigo is probably the prettiest track, with dreamy strings supplied by Hersh’s British friends Martin and Kim McCarrick. But I still can’t get past the voice…
The title of the album was lifted from a recurring piece of junk mail in Hersh’s inbox during the recording process. I’m thinking perhaps that’s one piece of junk mail she should pay attention to!
