WORD Christchurch is thrilled to bring you a New Zealand exclusive: Kristin Hersh’s Words + Music show, a stunning combination of songs and spoken word by one of indie music’s darlings.

In 1986, Throwing Muses was the first American band signed to the legendary label 4AD, which went on to acquire the Muses’ contemporaries, the Pixies and the Breeders. Hersh has forged a solo career, beginning with 1994’s Hips and Makers, formed 50 Foot Wave, and continued to play with the Throwing Muses; their latest album, Purgatory/Paradise, is accompanied by a book of photos, essays, stories and lyrics. Words + Music is an intimate show that, in Hersh’s own words, ‘is the closest I can come to letting [the audience] step inside the bubble of a song with me’.