Sunny Border Blue

Fifth album from Mrs. Hersh features 13 new songs (she plays all the instruments) and a heart-wrenching cover of Cat Stevens' 'Trouble'. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.

Kristin Hersh's Sunny Border Blue exists in a snowed-in, two-room cabin, and she's stuck feeding the potbellied stove, hoping the chimney doesn't back up, braced always against the other. That other sometimes forms a lover, sometimes a friend, or a child, a confidante, or a betrayer--the figure's face shifts even as the singer flips from seeping anxious jealousy ("Spain") to railing ("37 Hours"). Hersh plays all instruments except on "Trouble," a Cat Stevens cover that fits the smooth sonic landscape but stands out from her own songs in sticking to one emotional sensibility. Short on the noise and vocal histrionics of her earlier work, Sunny Border Blue bends the ear and, by extension, the listener's nervous system. --Andrew Hamlin