Kristin Hersh Unveils New Single 'Ms Haha'

Esteemed singer, guitarist and songwriter Kristin Hersh’s new single “Ms Haha” is out now via Fire Records with an accompanying video directed by Jonny Sanders. 

The track hails from Hersh’s forthcoming full-length record Clear Pond Road, out September 8. Preorder the record HERE.

Of Hersh’s second single from the upcoming album she explains, “Mr. Bones is my man and Ms Haha is me, ripped off from a Truman Capote story. So heavy. Love is goofy gravity.”

The music video compliments the “goofy gravity” of Hersh’s “Ms Haha” with manipulated, distorted visuals of Hersh on the guitar moving with different elements.

Of the video Sanders reflects, “Kristin lives in New Orleans and I live in London so we had to work out a way of her shooting a performance and me reinterpreting that. After speaking with her about her recording process and how audio can be revamped and effected, I wanted to use some of those techniques but in a visual way.”

Sanders continues, “I took her footage and re-filmed it all using a projector onto various textures and, more interestingly, a technique called ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ from the mid 19th century. The film is reflected in a 45-degree transparent screen to produce an almost holographic effect, giving it 3D space and distortion. This was placed inside glass objects to further manipulate the image.”

The album’s first single “Dandelion” continues to see critical acclaim, with Stereogum noting “the song extends, reaches out into the unknown. Its muted backdrop sends our focus to the lyrics, which Hersh delivers with all the eerie intonations associated with a murder ballad, but in this case the crimes are love and hope.”

Hersh wrote, performed and produced Clear Pond Road at Stable Sound Studio. She incorporates strings and ambient field recordings on the record to lushly cinematic effect, with the close-up intimacy and sensory nature of each track culminating in a record that resembles a sonic memoir, or a home movie caught in time.

Clear Pond Road is sensuous: a life-affirming statement, a new piece of this mysterious jigsaw, a very personal memoir. From street signs to snapshots, it’s a blossoming of a true icon of independence. The record is both intimate yet expansive.

“Some records demand to be made,” says Hersh. “And you know this is the case when the songs function as systems in a body. I octavized an acoustic baritone as the skeleton, cellos are the lungs, a Nashville-strung Collings and glockenspiel were the fingertips feeling around in this weird-ass dark space, and drums are always your heart, of course…but the vocals are a strange narrator here. A narrator lost in the story, of all things, more like eyes.”

Hersh cofounded Throwing Muses in high school, and after earning a devoted following the group was the first American group to be signed to British label 4AD. Amidst international touring, releasing ten solo albums (multiple independently) and founding her own label, Hersh went on to form the power rock trio 50 Foot Wave and publish 3 books, including her acclaimed memoir Rat Girl.

Hersh was one of the first artists to break outside of the traditional label system, using a fan-supported structure to fund her work. She teamed up with British label Fire Records in 2018 around her tenth studio album Possible Dust Clouds where she continues her partnership.

CLEAR POND ROAD INTERNATIONAL TOUR

September 27—Exeter, UK—The Phoenix Arts Centre
September 29—Ramsgate, UK—St George’s Church
September 30—Oxford, UK—Florence Park Community Centre
October 1—Liverpool, UK—Philharmonic
October 3—Bristol, UK—Strange Brew
October 4—Cardiff, UK—Acapella Club
October 5—Reading, UK—South Street Arts Centre
October 6—Cambridge, UK—Storey’s Field
October 8—Norwich, UK—Arts Centre
October 9—Nottingham, UK—Metronome
October 11—Leeds, UK—Mill Hill Chapel
October 12—Manchester, UK—St Michael’s Ancoats
October 14—Glasgow, UK—Mono
October 15—Edinburgh, UK—Summerhall (Dissection Room)
October 17—Newcastle, UK—Cluny
October 18—Hebden Bridge, UK—Trades Club
October 19—Kilkenny, Ireland—Cleere’s
October 20—Galway, Ireland—Roisin Dubh
October 21—Dublin, Ireland—Pavilion Theatre
October 22—Bangor, UK—The Court House
October 23—Dundalk, Ireland—The Spirit Store
October 24—Kendal, UK—The Old Brewery
October 25—Leek, UK—Foxlowe Arts Centre
October 26—Birmingham, UK—Hare And Hounds
October 28—London, UK—St John at Bethnal Green
October 29—Brighton, UK—Komedia
November 2—Brisbane, Australia—Black Bear Lodge
November 3—Canberra, Australia—Smith’s Alternative
November 5—St Kilda, Australia—Nemo Music Hall
November 8—Melbourne, Australia—Northcote Social Club
November 9—Newton, Australia—Vanguard
November 10—Katoomba, Australia—Baroque Room

Photo credit: Pete Mellekas

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