1. Echo
2. White Trash Moon
3. Fog
4. Costa Rica
5. A Cleaner Light
6. San Francisco
7. Cathedral Heat
8. Husk
9. Caffeine
10. Spring
11. Clay Feet
12. Faith

It's a really good album, not Kristin's best offering, but still 99% better than most of the junk on the radio. Some of Kristin's most rock-style songs are here featuring her usual brand of witty poetic lyrics, that beautifully raspy voice and some sonic experimentation - notice the chirping crickets which both open and close the album. If you're a first time Kristin listener I'd recommend "Sunny Border Blue" or "Strange Angels" first, and later checking out this album and "The Grotto."


Kristin Hersh's third solo album is the finest one yet.   March 6, 2001
Christopher Culver
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

SKY MOTEL, Kristin Hersh's third solo album, is the first to feature electric instruments. As a result, it brings the listener back to the fondly remembered days of her band Throwing Muses.

Hersh's songwriting on SKY MOTEL is as strong and idiosyncratic as ever, but the electric guitars and David Narcizo on drums give each track an added punch that make this her most accessible solo effort yet. The powerful "Echo" makes an excellent opening. "A Cleaner Light" is a rarity in pop music, a track that is both artistically viable and radio-friendly. "Cathedral Heat" is perhaps the album's highest peak, as Kristin sings "kissing in the middle of a terrible storm." The quiet "Faith" trails off to mark the end of this worthy album.

Forgetting about individual tracks and looking at the album as a whole, this disc takes time to grow on the listener, but it ultimately satisfies. Kristin Hersh's lyricism is certainly out of the ordinary, but once you get the core essence of the album, it all flows well.

For those who have yet to hear Kristin, I would recommend this over her two previous solo albums, HIPS AND MAKERS and STRANGE ANGELS, as the electric guitars of SKY MOTEL give it a wide range of appeal.


She has things to share , intimate thoughts and feelings   March 17, 2003
giovanni (Greece)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

... It's a direct revealing of her soul to the listener , one would say and indeed he would be right .

A complicated musician none the less , Hersh is no newcomer to the female rock scene . She is being fronting The Throwing Muses for years now and has already released five albums as a solo artist . Her records owe much of their charm to the power of her personallity . She is a woman who has " battled her own demons " and won , saw visions and illusions which caused her physical pain while writing many of her songs and all that long before all these female musicians started pretending to have 'mental disorders' just so they could sell some records . She is the real thing . She has always been honest with her public and she deserves credit for it . Never really did she seem to care about topping the charts or anything even remotely close to that . Much of her previous stuff is totally anticommercial , especially one of The Muses' latest releases , 1996's Limbo .

" Sky Motel " now is a record as enigmatic as they go . It contains a number of melodies locked into their own private universe ( " Costa Rica " , " San Francisco " ) . What is really difficult to understand is the mood the gifted singer is in while singing lyrics like " God bless the ugly / cheap champagne and blackjack on the bed / i was born in America / born with the fists of a saint ... " . Is she sad , cynical , dissapointed , happy or maybe all these together ? Ofcourse that doesn't mean that Hersh's virtues as a singer-songwritter aren't many because they really are and always present in each and everyone of her albums . " A Cleaner Light " brings in mind some of The Muses' best moments like " Bright Yellow Gun " , " Hush " is mysterious and haunting while " Cafeine " is melancholic and in it's own way romantic ( " I feel your heart beating / i hear your soft breathing " ) .

In conlusion ? ... Well it's actually hard to end up to a single simple conlusion about singers like Hersh . The music , the tortured voice , the lyrics all add up to something deeply personal which is natural not to sound appealing for everyone . One thing is sure though : artists like that shouldn't be ignored . Understanding the essence of their work is a challenge , exploring their thoughs is an experience .


Kristin stuns and amazes   July 22, 1999
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

It's not Throwing Muses, it's not Kristin acoustic, it's Kristin electric and without a band. Sky Motel is a departure from Kristin's past material, and she enters the next phase of her career using drum loops and playing all the instruments (except for drums). It's great to hear Kristin playing electric again and it seems like it's great for her to be playing her Fender again. As she sings in 'Echo', "I crave the very loudest sound...". While Sky Motel is different from anything else Kristin has done, it's still the same Kristin we know and love. Her songs are intense yet sweet, pretty yet rockin'. A song like 'Cathedral Heat' will draw you in, deeper and deeper, as it's intensity builds until you lose yourself within it. 'Echo', the first single, takes you on a joyous ride through transitions and stops and starts. The catchy 'A Cleaner Light' would make a worthy follow-up single. Overall this is a strong album that makes a nice place to start for a new listener or a great addition to a current fans collection.