Number 9 of 2004 — 50 Foot Wave: Bug EP

This is weird: to go back to 50 Foot Wave’s debut in the year they released their first full length album. My feelings for this debut are considerably different from the album because this EP is an important first step.

Bug, the first track, begins the journey from the n^th and last incarnation of Throwing Muses to the fully formed 50 Foot Wave that appears on this year’s Golden Ocean. The final Muses album was an inspired collection of songs recorded over a couple of weekends. The speed of the recording, the songs, the production – they all pointed towards a new direction, recalling the harder albums (such as Red Heaven) but taking the sound into murkier depths.

It was natural therefore that this EP was that first step on that road. Bug sounds like a Throwing Muses song, at least up until the first time signature change and Kristin Hersh’s first vocal. In fact, much of this EP does. Things are turned up a lot louder, the music is simpler, more frantic in it’s most frantic moments. New drummer Rob Ahlers replaces Dave Narcizo’s metronomic military magnificence with a similarly impressive rock backing. I’m constantly amazed by the variation in time signatures and the rhythms. How do they all keep track of what’s happening when? And how does it work live? Extraordinary. This EP is an example of both technical and musical excellence. Bernard George’s bass provides a similar backing to his Muses days, with a bit more grind. And Kristin Hersh’s guitars are everywhere.

Lyrically Kristin is still the same. We have the lines that will have me puzzling over for the next few decades. And we have lines that are exquisitely formed. “Strong women gripe and bite your heavy tongues”. Anyone? Exactly. But then there are little glimpses: “Yes, all right, I can / With sunburned lips I can bitch / About another stupid summer”. Much of Throwing Muses was objective, full of stories, of weird anecdotes, tales of women, and of men. Kristin’s solo work is however becoming increasingly personal and personalised. This EP reflects this transition too.

So, with Bug, we have the best of Throwing Muses, now influenced significantly by Kristin’s solo work, at least lyrically, plus the harder leanings of a woman and of a band who have simply decided to do what they want to do. Which is a pretty compelling reason to listen to 50 Foot Wave.