The Path of Totality
"Stick your middle finger up and live your passion". - Kristin Hersh. A video essay.
In a recent interview with the London Review Bookshop (2024, 00:36:55-00:37:00), the American singer-songwriter, Kristin Hersh, cites: “My songs tell me what to do”.1
Similarly, in an interview with PBS NewsHour (2022, 01:11), Bono suggests that: “Songs - songs are not like your children. They boss you about. … They tell you what to do.”2
Methodological Notes
This audio-visual essay was inspired by the ‘Great North American Eclipse’ which occurred over 15 states of the contiguous U.S. on April, 8, 2024. Around this time, I also got around to opening the one cut vinyl of Blackout Baby which had been posted back to me. The commercial finish did not suit the artefact. Having discarded the sub-par gatefold, I rehoused it in a rare black sleeve. We slip into totality. Anyway, it’s all in the video, not here.
London Review Bookshop. 2024. Kristin Hersh & Jennifer Hodgson: The art of songwriting. [Online] April 29. [Accessed 22 September 2024]. Available from: https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/podcasts-video/podcasts/kristin-hersh-jennifer-hodgson-the-future-of-songwriting
PBS NewsHour. 2022. Bono on activism and connecting music to a larger meaning. [Online]. [Accessed 15 September 2024]. Available from: https://youtu.be/Vm8EnPskrUs
References (in script)
Berger, J. 2013. Understanding a photograph. Dyer, G. ed. London: Penguin.
Blanchot, M. 1981. The gaze of Orpheus and other literary essays. Translated by L. Davis. Adams Sydney, P. ed. New York: Station Hill Press.
Gauthier, M. 2021. Saved by a song: the art and healing power of songwriting. New York: St. Martin's Essentials.
Hersh, K. 2024. The future of songwriting. London: Melville House UK.
London Review Bookshop. 2024. Kristin Hersh & Jennifer Hodgson: The art of songwriting. [online]. April 29. [Accessed 22 September 2024]. Available from: https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/podcasts-video/podcasts/kristin-hersh-jennifer-hodgson-the-future-of-songwriting
Pothast, E. 2024. Invisible Jukebox. Kristin Hersh. The Wire. [Online]. 1 May. Issue 483. pp.20-23. [Accessed 10 April 2024]. Available from: https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/115827/spread/23
Sherburne, P. 2020. Throwing Muses’ Kristin Hersh on the music that made her. Pitchfork. [Online]. [Accessed 9 April 2024]. Available from: https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/throwing-muses-kristin-hersh-on-the-music-that-made-her
Wray, D.D. 2020. Throwing Muses’ Kristin Hersh ‘I knew integrity would pull me into the gutter’. The Guardian. [Online]. [Accessed 9 April 2020]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/09/throwing-muses-cult-band-interview-kristin-hersh
Wu, T. 2016. The attention merchants: the epic scramble to get inside our heads. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Discography
PJ Harvey. 2023. I inside the old year dying. [CD]. London: Partisan.
The Throwing Muses. 1994. Your ghost. Hips and makers. [CD]. London: 4AD.
Bob Dylan. 1976. Desire. [Vinyl]. US: Colombia Records.
Sam Lou Talbot. 2023d. Blackout baby. [Online]. Glasgow: Sam Lou Talbot. [Accessed 20 December 2023]. Available from: https://samloutalbot.bandcamp.com/album/blackout-baby
Sam Lou Talbot. 2024a. Blackout baby. [Vinyl]. Glasgow: Sam Lou Talbot.
*The quote in the subtitle is taken from Sherburne (2020).