The Fat Skier

A mini-album released between the Throwing Muses’ first two albums (1986’s self-titled set, and 1988’s House Tornado), The Fat Skier can feel a bit off-the-cuff at first, but give it time, and the scurrilous magic of its songs sinks in. “Soul Soldier,” from the Muses’ debut album, re-appears, surrounded by experimental noise incident, but the core of The Fat Skier is the six new songs, particularly the ravenous rollercoaster of “Garoux Des Larmes” – a song that feels like it’s constantly ready to careen off its own rails – and the spare, spooked “And A She-Wolf After The War.” Around this time, the Muses also released perhaps their best single record – the Chains Changed EP – and contributed one of their most queerly confusing songs, “Fish,” to two compilations, including 4AD’s Lonely Is An Eyesore. It was a remarkably productive era for this most idiosyncratic of groups.