Throwing Muses – Libretto: 13th Floor New Song Of The Day

Following their acclaimed Sun Racket from 2020, a heady set filled with tough and tender tales spiked with surreal imagery, new album Moonlight Concessions (out 14th March via Fire Records) is released alongside the deviously titled, Moonlight Confessions, a companion record exclusively available with Rough Trade. Out today, you can listen to brand new single Libretto.

Here’s the blurb with more:

“Still predictably startling”
★★★★ Uncut

“An evocative collection of vignettes from everyday life that impact in a similar way to the understated and deceptively simple prose of Raymond Carver.”
The Quietus

Available On Classic Black Vinyl, Limited Edition Cream Vinyl (US Exclusive) and CD

Kristin Hersh on Libretto:

“We call this the honey song. It’s sweet, and mentions honey a bunch of times, but really because it seems important to provide a thawing influence when people you like are subjected to a cold world. Bring the warmth and honey flows all around.” 

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.

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.

Pre-Order Moonlight Concessions:

Pre-order URL: https://throwingmuses.lnk.to/MoonlightConcessions

“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.”

2025 Tour Dates

28 Feb: Live at the Polo, Canberra, Australia
01 Mar: Mary’s Underground, Sydney, Australia
02 Mar: Corner Hotel, Melbourne, Australia
05 Mar: The Old Museum, Brisbane, Australia
08 Mar: Port Fairy Folk Festival, Port Mary, Australia
09 Mar: Port Fairy Folk Festival, Port Mary, Australia
11 Mar: The Rosemont, Perth, Australia
13 Mar: Grace Emily, Adelaide, Australia
15 Mar: Blue Mountains Folk Festival, Katoomba, Australia
16 Mar: Blue Mountains Folk Festival, Katoomba, Australia
20 Mar: The Vic, Devonport, New Zealand
21 Mar: Tuning Fork, Auckland, New Zealand
22 Mar: The Piano, Christchurch, New Zealand
23 Mar: Old St Pauls, Wellington, New Zealand

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