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Previews {MUSIC}
KRISTIN HERSH Indie rock goddess brings a new memoir and live music
Alt rock idol Kristin Hersh is spoiling us. She’s playing four shows this festival, but doesn’t realise it. ‘Am I? I don’t know!’ she laughs. ‘I’ll do whatever you say . . .’ The List is tempted to exploit the offer; book a month-
long residency, keep her here forever – but we remind Hersh of her dates: UNBOUND’s words and music event, an EIBF panel and two live music shows. Hersh has been a singular figure in US indie rock for
over 25 years. As leader of Throwing Muses, she overthrew gender stereotypes, blazed a trail for underground rock and brought The Pixies to the UK. (‘They were our opening band – we were such babies that we were all homesick. We’d sit in the van and sing old folk songs about being away from home.’) She also records as a solo artist and in power-punk trio 50FOOTWAVE – not to mention her pioneering, fan- funded business model, CASH Music. ‘A lot of creativity
comes out of necessity,’ she enthuses. ‘Being broke will keep you really vibrant!’ Hersh’s memoir, Paradoxical Undressing, is at the
heart of her shows. Detailing a year in her late teens in which she bagged a record contract, became pregnant and had bipolar disorder diagnosed, it underlines Hersh’s efforts to disentangle mental illness and art. ‘I honestly believe that a clear, healthy mind is capable of creating what we need to hear. When I was younger, I just thought, “let the songs do whatever they want”,’ she reflects. ‘Now I’ve come to a point where I let the song say whatever it wants – and that can be very uncomfortable – but I edit out the crap that nobody needs.’ (Nicola Meighan) ■ UNBOUND, Spiegeltent, 16 Aug, 9pm, free; ‘On Surviving Mental Illness’, ScottishPower Studio Theatre, 17 Aug, 8.30pm, £10 (£8), both part of the EIBF, 0845 373 5888; Cabaret Voltaire (Paradoxical Undressing), 0844 4999 990, 18 & 19 Aug, 7pm, £12.50, part of The Edge.
CLASSICS AT GREYFRIARS Beethoven concert series with church backdrop
Taking advantage of the unique way that music can be presented in a festival context, Greyfriars Kirk (at the top of Candlemaker Row) is presenting all of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and string quartets over a new two-week long run. The quartets are spread out over ten late-night performances by the phenomenal Heath Quartet, a young ensemble whose reputation is growing fast. For the piano sonatas, some of the most sublime music ever composed, the ideal exponent is internationally acclaimed Welsh pianist Llyr Williams (left). He gives 12 tea-time concerts, combining the well-known and less familiar in each, beginning with the Pathétique and concluding with the monumentally demanding Hammerklavier. ‘There is so much life [in the sonatas],’ says
Williams, ‘from humour to profundity. They can be angry one minute and gentle the next.’ The string quartets also have variety, but ‘they don’t reflect Beethoven’s life in the same way.’ Much as he would love to, he may not hear his late-night Heath colleagues. As he says, ‘I think I’ll have to always be in bed when they are playing.’ (Carol Main) ■ Greyfriars Kirk, 668 2019, 12–26 Aug, 5.45pm and 10.30pm, £17.50 (£14).
F E S T I V A L 11–18 Aug 2011 THE LIST 67