I mentioned before that Throwing Muses is my favourite band, but when I reach for Kristin Hersh’s records these days, this EP is usually my first port of call. This is the first in a series of articles covering “side projects”.
Hersh made her name as the singer/songwriter of Throwing Muses, but also carved out a solo career - the latter mostly being gentler, more acoustic, material.
50 Foot Wave (the name sometimes fashioned as 50FOOTWAVE or even L’~) is a side-project, away from the solo and Throwing Muses work - though the band includes two thirds of her main band - L’~ replaces David Narcizo on drums with Rob Ahlers, while Hersh and Bernard Georges remain from the Muses.
While the line-up is similar, the sound isn’t that close. 50 Foot Wave started as a way-harder rocking outfit, kicking off with an eponymous EP in 2004 and the Golden Ocean LP a year or so later. As time passed, the Wave material became less hard-edged, while still sounding different to the Muses.
But this 2016 EP is what gives me thrills right now. I rarely play Hersh’s solo material but, when I want to hear her music these days, this is my usual “go to” record. Really, for me, this is what the newer Throwing Muses material could sound like in my dream workd.
I couldn’t choose a favourite track, so the embedded video is the opening, début, song. The other tracks are equally worth checking out, links below.
Late in 2020 Hersh reported that she was recording new 50 Foot Wave material.
