Throwing Muses

This edition of The Essential 10, our quickfire introduction to a wide range of my favourite artists, features Throwing Muses; an act that has managed 11 studio albums and a bunch of EPs and compilations, over a career that spans back to the early 1980s.

I have trawled the entire catalogue to come up with ten of my favourite tracks by them, including a few surprises (although, if you don’t know much about them, they may all be surprises).

Throwing Muses came into my life long before I ever actually heard any of their music. They were a staple in the Melody Maker music newspaper I religiously read every week through the late 80s and early 90s, generally without the ability to hear much of the artists they were talking about, unless they somehow happened to be on daytime Radio 1. The Muses sounded great from the articles, but it wasn't until I finally braved spending a few of my precious pounds on 1991s The Real Ramona, that I discovered they were every bit as good and interesting as I had hoped.

Initially formed in Rhode Island and based around step-sisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, before the latter left to do her own thing; Throwing Muses have ploughed a furrow on the fringes of cool, slightly offbeat, indie rock for 40 years.

Photo: Andrew Catlin

1. Call Me: this is a powerful opening track to a powerful debut album. The rhythm is utterly relentless, driven despite David Narcizo's trademark early lack of cymbals - all with Hersh whooping along like Siouxsie Sioux. Then, just as suddenly, the tempo drops away and it sounds remorseful, before building to a dramatic finish. (audio only)

2. Saving Grace: this drives along at an off-kilter pace, then with some weird tremolo dive it slows right down, then speeds back again. All with Hersh's urgent vocal delivery, belying the fact this seems to be about finding a moment of respite, backed by Donelly's perfect complementary vocals (such a shame they only lasted four albums together). (audio only)

3. Bright Yellow Gun: maybe the closest that Hersh ever wrote to an out and out classic pop/rock song, Bright Yellow Gun opened up University, perhaps the most obviously tuneful of their albums, with a perfect burst of alt-rock magic dust. In a just universe this was a hit - I mean the UK Top 5 the week it was released was East 17, Mariah, Boyzone, Jimmy Nail and the bloody Ninja Turtles!! (official music video - not sure why the chimps are in it either)

4. Shark: a squall of feedback and then it launches into a delicious bass driven funky rock track obliquely about a destructive relationship, with the Shark of the title a consuming thought. It is ferociously intensive, pulverising the listener, with Hersh singing in an almost off-hand way. (official music video)

5. Sunray Venus: the 'big' tune from Purgatory / Paradise (named after the intersection of Purgatory Road and Paradise Avenue in MIddletown, Rhode Island). Another slowly blistering rock track, with another deceptively funky groove riding along underneath it all - a lot of noise for a trio. (live on KEXP in 2014)

6. Bo Diddley Bridge: Sun Racket came on the back of a seven year hiatus for Throwing Muses while Hersh focused on her other projects. Bo Diddley Bridge is slightly eerie, but has an almost heavy rock riff that propels it along before a more delicate middle 8 (of sorts - it's more of an ending actually) with some heavy piano and other-worldly backing vocals. (slightly odd black & white official music video)

7. Devil's Roof: this opens delicately, with a typical Narcizo complex little drum pattern, before it breaks into a bright acoustic strum, underlaid with Leslie Langston's groovy little bass walks. Hersh seems to be grappling with more turmoil, as she frequently growls, "for instance, where's my husband?" (audio only)

8. Dizzy: perhaps the most jangly indie pop song they wrote, full of lovely little arpeggios and chiming chords. Then the sisters launch into the brief but glorious chorus, "It's just that mean old Texas sun, it makes me dizzy, dizzy, dizzy in my head." Again, Langston's bass goes wandering all around the underneath. So very catchy. (live on Big World Cafe, 1989)

9. Firepile: this is a piledriver of a tune, from 1992s Red Heaven, the first post-Donnelly LP. Hersh sounds properly angry - "Call that firepile a home" - although I am entirely unsure (as ever) what is going on. Anyway, the guitars crunch like a swarm of angry blues bees. (official music video)

10. Not Too Soon: four albums in and Donelly decided it was time to move on and find her own space (with her own band, Belly). However, she left with perhaps one of the greatest indie pop singles of all time. Catchy guitars overlaid with shimmering vocals - a classic! (official music video)