She laughs uproariously when she's reminded, and then Kristin Hersh sighs. It's about one impressive statistic of her career: Hersh has released some 25 albums since the 1986 debut of her Rhode Island high school band Throwing Muses, formed when she was still a teenager wondering whether she should study medicine or sign a record contract.
That's counting her latest solo release, Clear Pond Road. She's also written half a dozen books, mostly intimate memoirs which have increasingly offered their own weird music since her acclaimed first, Rat Girl in 2010. The book helped win her a new generation of fans.
"In America, I have a lot of little Rat Girl fans," she tells the Listener on Zoom from New York. "They carry the book in their backpacks, and they all look alike. They all stand in the front row. So, there's a lot of seeing the band because you missed it the first time."
This story is from the September 30 - October 6 2023 edition of New Zealand Listener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 30 - October 6 2023 edition of New Zealand Listener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Morning songs
On a recent early and glorious Saturday morning - it was 4°C outside I let the complaining chickens out. Chickens never stop complaining.
Upwardly mobile
Climate-friendly e-scooters are proliferating but there are stumbling blocks for users and non-users.
A potent brew
There's a correlation between moderate coffee drinking and reduced risk of colorectal cancer - but evidence of a causal link is still percolating.
Food saviours
A little bit of silliness lightens the mood on the serious topic of food waste.
Ode to old masters
The Polynesian sound and Auckland's ska-punk scene are remembered in new releases.
Weaving Welsh with waiata
Te reo meets Cymraeg in a musical project partly spearheaded by Kawiti Waetford, an opera singer with connections to Wales.
Culture warrior
Activist and scholar Ngahuia te Awek6otuku achieved several firsts in society but had to fight many battles to get there.
An age-old problem
Is our lifespan fixed, or might we be able to slow down or even abolish ageing? And what would we do if we could?
When Jim becomes James
'What would white people do to a slave who had learned to read?' This impressive reimagining of Huckleberry Finn seeks to find out.
Manhattan transfer
A Kiwi movie star led the charge for an Anzac garden atop New York's Rockefeller Centre that's still in use today.
