Throwing Muses release their new album, ‘Moonlight Concessions’, out now via Fire Records. The album follows their acclaimed ‘Sun Racket’ from 2020, a heady set filled with tough and tender tales spiked with surreal imageery.
Produced by Kristin Hersh at Steve Rizzo’s Stable Sound Studio in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, ‘Moonlight Concessions’ goes back to basics, a return for Throwing Muses to their esoteric off-kilter best courtesy of Kristin’s pin-sharp sketches and their suitably abrasive musical arrangements.
‘Moonlight Concessions’ is a collection of snippets from everyday life writ large – think Raymond Carver Short Cuts, overheard conversations, recounted happenings and telling one-liners, all sewed together to illustrate the times as they slowly mature, fully peppered with original Muses’ vim and vigour.
“A stunning return to form” Pitchfork
‘Drugstore Drastic’ is a kerbside soliloquy caught en route to a more alluring rendezvous. Built on a brisk acoustic strum with a guitar sub-melody underpinning proceedings, it’s an unfolding tale of social awareness from a blurred sub-conscious. Kristin: “It’s a picture of how we all present: A little wasted, a little stone cold sober.”
‘Summer Of Love’ began as a bet with a guy for a dollar that revolved around the idea that the seasons don’t change us. The album opener, it’s a haunting baroque overture, bowed and brooding.
“He said we aren’t just planted here, stagnant, we’re in flux, responding to love like octopuses moving across the ocean floor. Turns out he was right, and I still owe him a buck.”
‘Libretto’s strings offset the acoustic ambience, the hot and cold of longing at the very heart of it, a thematic driver filed with warmth in a safe haven lubricated by tequila.
Written in the differing South Coast environs of The Gulf Of Mexico and Southern California, ‘Moonlight Concessions’ pulls from the star clusters that light both generating optimism and hope in varying degrees.
“New Orleans, the stars look greenish-blue, as it’s below sea level and swamp-lit. But on Moonlight Beach, they glow icy white. All these songs were written in these two glowy places, which helped our sonic technique find itself.”
Elsewhere xenophobes with shotguns prowl, an albatross flutters and is mistaken for a seagull and a homeless dude with a Spiderman mask raises a toast; perfect conditions for a band whose debut album from 1986 was retrospectively recognised by Pitchfork as “idiosyncratic and uncopiable”. Thankfully this glorious return to form ensures that nothing much has changed, from the DIY ethics of their early days.
“Our ‘Moonlight Concessions’ are still lighting the way. Not real spectacularly, nothing bright like a spotlight, just a glowing, helping each other home.”
‘Moonlight Concessions’ is out now. Available On Limited Edition Cream Vinyl, Classic Black Vinyl & CD. Rough Trade Exclusive – Album Available On Neon Yellow Vinyl & Companion Record ‘Moonlight Confessions’
2025 Tour Dates
12 May: Blå, Oslo, Norway
13 May: Vega Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark
14 May: Lido, Berlin, Germany
15 May: Gebaude 9, Cologne, Germany
17 May: Waterfront, Norwich, UK
18 May: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK
19 May: The Cluny, Newcastle, UK
20 May: The Garage, Glasgow, UK
21 May: Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Ireland
22 May: Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland
23 May: Whelan’s, Dublin, Ireland
24 May: Academy 2, Manchester, UK
25 May: Bearded Theory, Derbyshire, UK
26 May: The Fleece, Bristol, UK
27 May: Electric Ballroom, London
28 May: White Rock Studio, Hastings, UK
29 May: Chalk, Brighton, UK
30 May: Cactus Club, Bruges, Belgium
31 May: La Marberie, Paris, France
02 June: The Chelsea, Vienna, Austria
03 Jun: Strom, Munich, Germany
04 Jun: Santeria Toscana 31, Milan, Italy
05 Jun: Molotov, Marseille, France
20 Aug: La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, UK
21 Aug: Black Box, Belfast, UK
22 Aug: Whelans, Dublin, Ireland
23 Aug: Philharmonic, Liverpool, UK
24 Aug: Krakenhaus Festival, Cumbria, UK
26 Aug: Hare and Hounds, Birmingham, UK
27 Aug: Esquires, Bedford, UK
28 Aug: Phoenix, Exeter, UK
29 Aug: The Globe, Cardiff, UK
30 Aug: End Of The Road, Salisbury, UK
01 Sep: Gazarte, Athens, Greece
02 Sep: Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth, UK
03 Sep: Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
04 Sep: Efenaar Eindhoven, Netherlands
05 Dec: Corner Hotel, Melbourne, Australia
06 Dec: Factory Theatre, Sydney, Australia
07 Dec: Crowbar, Brisbane, Australia
12 Dec: Rosemount, Perth, Australia
13 Dec: Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide, Australia
