After more than a decade away, Throwing Muses will return to Australia this December for their first shows since 2009 — a long-awaited visit that reunites one of alternative rock’s most distinctive voices with local audiences.
The American trio — Kristin Hersh, David Narcizo, and Bernard Georges — arrive fresh off the release of their eleventh studio album, Moonlight Concessions, hailed by Pitchfork as “a stunning return to form.” The record captures the band’s signature balance of dissonance and delicacy, Hersh’s stark lyricism cutting through warped melodies and shifting tempos with familiar intensity.
Hersh has long been celebrated as one of indie rock’s most uncompromising storytellers — not just through her music, but her writing. Her 2010 memoir Rat Girl (published in the UK as Paradoxical Undressing) earned widespread acclaim for its candour and insight into her early years with Throwing Muses, when she was 18, pregnant, and newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The New York Times called it “an uncommonly touching punk memoir,” while Rolling Stone listed it among the “25 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Time.”
Joining the band across all dates are Melbourne’s Charm of Finches, whose haunting harmonies and chamber-folk sound have earned international acclaim. Meanwhile, the Sydney and Melbourne shows will also feature a special set from A.C. Saunders, known for raw storytelling and guitar-driven intimacy.
Formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, Throwing Muses reshaped American indie rock with their unconventional song structures and emotional transparency — a lineage that continues to ripple through modern alt-folk and post-punk.
Now, fifteen years since their last visit, Hersh and company return with renewed focus and fearless honesty. These performances promise to revisit the band’s esoteric catalogue while showcasing their most vital new material to date — a celebration of craft that remains defiantly uncompromising.
