- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
-
100It is simple, winding, hypnotic and beautiful, and it makes being human bearable for a while -- without in any way detracting from its essential tragedy.
-
There's something in Hersh's hushed, otherworldly hymns about dysfunction and off-center mental states that's deeply unsettling--in all the right ways. [14 Mar 2003, p.67]
-
80Her voice, raspy and harsh against the gently ringing acoustic guitar, makes you expect a gloomy, even maudlin disc. But that can distract from what makes it great: its ambiguity, the way she expresses herself in such strangely personal terms yet never settles on an emotional tone.
-
80Hersh's voice is measured, husky, and quietly defiant, the sound of the [Throwing] Muses' ambient alter ego. [Apr 2003, p.97]
-
80The Grotto is a deeply meditative, ambient recording that manages to seem more spare than 1999's Strange Angels, harking all the way back to Hips and Makers.
-
Possibly the best Kristin Hersh solo album since 1994's classic Hips & Makers.
-
80Hersh has also masterfully tamed her potent vocal quirks here, using them to tease one moment and hypnotize the next.
-
70Its 10 minimalist songs mine a vein of laconic broodiness. [Apr 2003, p.110]
-
70An exquisite addition to the canon. [Apr 2003, p.104]
-
70The Grotto isn't the type of record that will win Hersh many new admirers, but it will send longtime fans into fits of ecstasy.
-
60Sweet, spooky harmonies, partly inspired by the death of a close relative, given a naked acoustic production. [May 2003, p.125]
-
The songs, while as elegant and naturally paced as they've ever been, tend to merely drift along.
-
60It's an uneven set, relying strongly on her performance to carry the songs forward. [#229, p.68]
-
It doesn't take long for her aimless acoustic picking and postgraduate lyrical poetry to dissipate into a dull gray haze.