Kristin Hersh: The Grotto and Throwing Muses: Throwing Muses

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

Kristin Hersh: The Grotto
(Herald rating: * * *)

Throwing Muses: Throwing Muses
(Herald rating: * * * *)

Kristin Hersh's band Throwing Muses split in 1997, their brand of alt-rock starting to fall on deaf ears with Hersh's acoustic solo albums possibly diverting attention from the group.

But they've regrouped for a possible last blast which also ropes in Hersh's half-sister and former Muse Tanya Donnelly on backing vocals, the combined voices reminding of early album The Real Ramona.

As expected, the band is hardly out to break new ground, but the 13-song set is an engaging energetic affair. Especially as they crunch the gears on those trademark shifts in time signature on tracks like Pretty Or Not while tracks like Civil Disobedience and Pandora's Box show the vitality of their art-punk approach and reminds that Hersh's intense warble of a voice still sounds just fine when it's trying to make itself heard above an amped-up band.

On The Grotto, Hersh is back in spooky singer-songwriter mode with just the occasional violin and guitar adorning her esoteric acoustic guitar playing and voice. It's austere stuff of autumnal mood throughout. If Hersh's songs tend towards too-similar variations on much the same emotionally tortured themes, at least some of them like Deep Wilson and SRB show she can still reach spots that most singer-songwriters can't.

Label: 4AD/Shock