Sky Motel

In the kingdom of the bards, Kristin Hersh is queen. Taken as a whole, her back catalogue represents one of the most individual bodies of work of the past 20 years. From the crazed manic-depressive clouds which stalked the early Throwing Muses records to the relative serenity of the acoustic solo outings, Hips And Makers and Strange Angels, Hersh's work is stamped with her own idiosyncratic imprimatur.

Strangely enough, Sky Motel is the first album proper since her internet/mail order-only album of Appalachian folk songs, Murder, Misery And Then Goodnight - a record of icily calm murder ballads that had about as much chance of receiving radio airplay as Phil Babb has of becoming the most capped Liverpool player of all time.

Sky Motel, however, is decidedly less gruesome in intent and a lot warmer in its purpose. It kicks off with 'Echo', a slick, well-honed single whose suave keyboard sound reminds one of Beck, as Hersh wails in characteristically impenetrable fashion about how she's "hating everybody. . and loving everyone [she] sees". 'Fog' and 'Cleaner Light' are sprightly, upbeat guitar blasts that belong on a Throwing Muses album - the latter, in particular, has a smooth wah-wah guitar groove that adds a bit of rough just when it's needed.

Mostly, though, it's the undulating atmospheric soundscapes that make up the bulk of this album: those willowy minor chords are all present and correct, and the accompanying narratives are of domestic arguments and reconciliations and such things as love on an airplane - of which there's not nearly enough songs written - and other inscrutable topics.

Sky Motel isn't likely to blow the roof off or win her legions of new fans, but it's a worthy successor to Strange Angels and further proof that Hersh's muse is alive and kicking ass.