Kristin Hersh – St Andrew’s In The Square, Glasgow – Tuesday 25^th March

Harrowing, thoughtful, funny, sad and insightful. These are some of the words that you could use to describe the world premiere of Kristin Hersh’s ‘Paradoxical Undressing’ in Glasgow last night. Based on Kristin’s teenage diaries ‘Paradoxical Undressing’ runs in parallel with the early years of Throwing Muses up to the birth of her first son dealing candidly with these troubled years.

‘Paradoxical Undressing’ is definitely not a rock show but instead is a spoken word performance interspersed with 10 songs performed solo.

There’s no disguising the fact that this is a demanding listen – concentration is essential over an extended period since the readings comprise nearly 80% of the 2 and a half hours running time. But if you put in the effort, then you will reap the rewards

The extracts cover a variety of topics from memories of early band shows to stories about Kristin’s upbringing and some dark days indeed. Initially the first act seemed to be a series of unconnected anecdotes but, from the end of the first act onwards, the narrative emerged, drawing all the different strands together.

Kristin has always said that her music has a life of its own. So, whilst the spoken word sections were performed with Kristin clearly lit, the spotlights were dimmed for the songs leaving K visible as just a silhouette. It was a powerful device which implied that Kristin had effectively “left” the stage whilst the songs themselves performed through her.

Even for a long term fan, these songs are a revelation. Surprisingly, I’ve never seen Kristin perform solo before and this is an indication of what I’ve been missing. There are a number of genuine hair-standing-on-the-back-of-the-neck moments, not least during ‘Delicate Cutters’. When that visceral voice lets rip it provides a stunning contrast to the acoustic guitar backing.

Hearing ‘Slippershell’ in a live context for the first time was astonishing too. Even if it was stripped down from the recorded version (available here), the performance was still superb.

It has to be said that, initially, the audience didn’t know what to make of the whole thing. Right at the start it seemed like there was a shared nervousness amongst both the audience and the performer – Kristin’s only acknowledgement of the crowd after coming on stage was a fleeting smile. And the Fish Jesus section was listened to with reverence – but absolutely no reaction. Astonishingly that spilled over into the first song, ‘Fish’, at the conclusion of which there was no applause. None. Whatsoever. You wonder what Kristin was thinking at that particular moment.

Fortunately after ‘Cuckoo’ someone near the back took the initiative and broke the spell by bursting into applause. Things rapidly warmed up after that as people realised that, yes, you were meant to laugh at some points. Even when, during some of the later, more intense passages, you got the sense that everyone was collectively holding their breath, it felt like an appropriate response.

Ultimately the performance hung together well and those that stayed to the end (and there was a noticeable number of drop-outs at the interval) were ultimately rewarded with an engrossing portrayal of the life of the teenage Kristin Hersh. It’s probably not for everybody but for those with an interest in the life and work of this extraordinary lady, it is pretty much essential.

One of the HSOTBOTN moments from last night as played with the band last year:

Kristin Hersh – Your Dirty Answer (from ‘PBGH’) [Get it]

Songs

1st Act – 1. Fish 2. Cuckoo 3. Slippershell 4. Delicate Cutters 5. Cathedral Heat

2nd Act – 1. My Diry Answer 2. Wayfaring Stranger 3. “Don’t Worry About The Bees” 4. “Cigarette In My Shoe” 5. “The Boy’s OK”.

(Sorry, Kristin’s written so many songs I can’t put a name to the last 3.)