Black Pearl

Kristin Hersh, Bernard Georges, and Rob Ahlers only make music as 50 Foot Wave when the time is right, and their releases usually take the shape of ferocious, cobweb-clearing EPs, so when the trio deliver an album, it's a special event. Arriving 17 years after their first full-length, 2005's Golden Ocean, Black Pearl honors the strengths of Hersh's entire body of work as well as 50 Foot Wave's singular talents. As on her Throwing Muses and solo albums of the late 2010s and early 2020s, Black Pearl finds Hersh's voice growing ever more expressive and textured. On "Hog Child," her rasp adds more complexity to poetic yet direct lyrics like "the tears I've shed for you weren't all clean." And while 50 Foot Wave's heavy, layered approach has rubbed off on some of Hersh's other work -- most notably Throwing Muses' 2020 album Sun Racket -- there are still some heights she can only reach with this trio. "Staring at the Sun" is one of the band's most striking songs to date: Ahlers' formidable drumming and Hersh's gorgeously distorted riff rival the Deftones when it comes to marrying beautiful and crushing sounds, but the refrain "you are the strangest stranger I've ever seen" is all 50 Foot Wave. They use the rest of Black Pearl to showcase their different shades of musical and emotional heaviness, which can be surprisingly subtle considering their sonic onslaughts. Nuances of grief, regret, and wisdom lend a gravity that extends beyond the weighty rhythms that dominate Black Pearl, while the prog-like shifts of "Fly Down South," the heaving structure of "Broken Sugar," and the fuzzed-out solos on "Blush" add more color to its depth. The band lighten up ever so slightly on the instrumental title track and "Double Barrel," where Hersh's harmonies add the barest hint of sweetness to a song that takes place in "the city of the dead." Though it's not much longer than some of the group's EPs, Black Pearl's sustained mood of brooding mystery sets it apart, and its darkly lustrous songs uphold 50 Foot Wave's reputation as a vital part of Hersh's music. ~ Heather Phares