Kristin Hersh - The Holy Single
May 11th, 2004 byAs the name implies, this four song release contains Kristin Hersh’s take on a few classic spiritual songs. When my dad brought this cd home as a review cd some years ago I listened to it once, didn’t really like it, and stowed it away for, oh, 8 years or so. I dug it up when I was searching for some old Zip disks from college projects the other day and have finally realized how nice it is. Kristin is apparently known to dive into spirituality from time to time. And as I am more accustomed to her work with Throwing Muses and some of her introspective solo work this is a nice change that serves to further outline her range. Amazing Grace, sung with Kristin’s perfectly fitting melodic charm is gorgeous. Can The Circle Be Unbroken is such a sad thing, also wonderful. Sinkhole shows up in many playlists on my ipod where it doesn’t really fit because I like it so much. And Jesus Christ isn’t my favorite song, but it’s done with such style that I definitely don’t skip it when it comes up in my iTunes rotation.
If you are a Kristin Hersh fan and don’t already have this album, you need to track it down and buy it or borrow it from a friend. It’s different from most of her other work. Beautiful, charming, fun, and spiritual. It’s only four tracks long but I’ll give it a 9 out of ten anyways. Short and sweet.