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The Throwing Muses formed at college in 1983, when the two blondes Kristin Hersh and Katya Donnelly, amidst constant squabbles, shared their sharp guitars and voices. On bass another woman, on drums oops... a man! David Narcizo. Three years later, they would have the honor of being the first American band to sign with the English label 4AD, known for its music-depressive preferences....
In reality, the Vibrant Muses have little in common with that genre, perhaps due to the frequent hallucinations caused by the mental illness (bipolarity) suffered by Hersh... "House Tornado" is their second work released in 1988, and it confirms their penchant for a sort of psychedelic ballad characterized by the jingle jangle of guitars blending with rather complex rhythmic patterns, based on time signatures rarely frequented by other musicians in the scene.
Fans of the genre beware: they will have to contend with an unpredictable style, with skewed and jittery cadences that make the tension of each track quite palpable. A sort of folk-wave that evokes the complexity-simplicity of Violent Femmes and the Byrds, with the addition of the voices of the Hersh/Donnelly duo that drive the listener into a trance towards a labyrinth of unsettling psychedelia ("Run Letter"), twisted jangle ("Juno"), skewed electric ballads à la Patti Smith ("Saving Grace"), distorted potential hits ("The River"), country-folk gallops with steel teeth ("Drive").
The two project leaders won't stay together for much longer, a few more great albums ("The Real Ramona") and then Donnelly will fly off towards the Breeders and then Belly.
Girls with uncommon intelligence and worthy of respect, because their style expands the boundaries and expressive limits in which we constrain the definition of the word rock.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Colder (03:19)
They took a picture
And from this cold lightning living me through
So I feel like an alarm clock
Fire came from my mouth Is pushing me around
And I'm not loving and I'm not hating
I'm not creating
I'm losing my friends and my young dreams
That was vicious air spilled in my face out of love
And out of love
Keep walking
If I did the same thing 500 times
Could you see it in the dark?
I trust the weather
I try to make the bodies give me strength
Do we see them in the yard?
Who cares in they're rolling in bed?
There's only darkness upstairs
Does love sit cold 'til you put in somewhere
Do objects split it at your heart?
I don't see that anymore
I'm colder and colder and colder
02 Mexican Women (02:46)
Leave home Blood becomes a foreign substance
And see it as you let it dry
I forgive my nature or I'll be my saint
I can always feel you in heaven
Living in the past I think if I remember that I'll forget this
I know you well
Kill the sky The sun'll fry us; burn the rain We'll die
Stares from the back stairs
I tie your tie, set tables
I won't run your party, you can't run my life
But the waters run deep
Once there was two Mexican woman
Ran over the hills ripped off their skin and ate it up
Leave the town for the children [lay their skin across the fire]
Leave their rings to their daughters
And fly up
It's raining again Come home
It's raining in his hands
Oh catch it be brave grow
You make me cry Understand?
Be safe, no worry So
Look what you do You freeze my songs And please Come on
Catch me back I can go faster than fast
Catch me go get back a date Land a seal too fast
Catch me go get back a date Spin the wheel too fast
Help me go get back a date Live a day the past
07 Saving Grace (02:39)
So we drive and we've driven 10,000 miles
In our hometown
Sink back into the driveway
Which is Zen The head in the stairs
Or the body in the chair?
A Saving Grace at odds with technology A Saving Grace
18 with a bottle of water Cold jeans and the face of Gibraltar
How many trunks of your goods?
How many goods do you give away?
I'm spellbound when I can't move I stand in front of you
I'm flipping back through the pages of your calandar and your books
And your childhood and your looks
I try to move in your direction against the grain of time
I'm hoping to recollect my thoughts and motions
I pray to science and history Like cancer doesn't grow
I worship and forget you Bye
Worship and forget you
A Saving Grace
And holding on to what we've made
As it drags us by the legs across the living room
Put the children to bed
For a good night For tomorrow
08 Drive (03:25)
Drive your car
Through the kitchen cupboard door
Through the winter Down to the floor
Drive your head
To the bathroom tile
Smile 'round the corner and your friends
They wanna play Do you wanna play games?
It's alright...square your head Your head is square
Go out with me Come out
1 2 3...1 2 3 I didn't care...
I wanted you to know I didn't care
I always loved your hair
I wanna fight the clouds with your head on a stick
Fight the bush with your water and your leaves
And you leave so...
Fight with me Run the grass Run the road
The road house Home with me In my head
In your heart Under your ribs In my mind
Sleep your box I sleep in your mind
I don't care...
09 Downtown (04:05)
She's downtown Lies in the street
Been lying in the sheets
She's gone home Lies in the streets
Been lying in the bed Through her teeth
Stares at his sky Going bling Going blind
Step on corners Pick up puzzles
Eating all the grain
It was just a date in '80 now I can't remember the face
But I can still see the Still I see his of the and...
I'm a little bored and a little scared I come home
I look up to see all the noise I...
Can't remember now I can't remember how
She's seeing everyone Stares at her spreads that love around
And leaves
Can't even catch the face Don't think you can grab the face
So I left
She's downtown Lies in the sheets
Been lying in her sleep to his face
She's gone home Lies in the street
Been lying in the bed Through her teeth
Don't have to be so brave
Here he comes Here he comes
10 Giant (03:54)
Hold the man up to your hands Old hands
Make the man work again
Giant can Giant can get high again
Hold again or hurt
You will walk to the front and be blessed
Make my bones shiver again Trust it again
Make my bones work
Giant can I I Giant can get high again
I can't hold your head with both hands burned
You will walk to the front and be blessed again
One bed to sweat too scared to
So unsettling
One bed to sweat too scared too tired
One bed to sweat too scared to
So I'm settling in
One bed to sweat too scared to
Grieve
Giant can Giant can look down look down
Too small to look down to
Too small to look down look down
Just one time not to trip
Just once not to trip
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