Alt-Nation: Belly Is Back, 123 Astronaut, and More
Alt-Nation: Belly is Back, 123 Astronaut, and More Belly — Dove Set your wayback machine to the burgeoning alt-rock era, when in both the pre- and post-Nirvana periods, Aquidneck Island proved a very fertile talent pool. Throwing Muses was formed by Newport songwriters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly in the ‘80s, and saw some success before Donelly left the band to form Belly in ’91. They made RI proud, and were given the full ’90s treatment: “Feed the Tree” from their debut Star on heavy MTV rotation, a nomination for the Best New Artist VMA in 1993, TV show appearances and a Rolling Stone cover. Belly broke up in 1996 after their second album, the less successful King, and Donelly settled into a solo career. Unlike many bands, Belly hasn’t had an overabundance of reunion shows. On Friday, Belly will release the album Dove, their first new music in 23 years. The album was a crowd- sourced effort, funded by donations via the band’s PledgeMusic page, and features the King lineup of Gail Greenwood on bass, Thomas Gorman on guitar and drummer Chris Gorman. Belly – Dove Dove is a carefully produced, purposefully catchy effort, unlike their edgier, more cerebral albums from the ’90s. Dove’s first single, “Shiny One,” is a groovy, Stone Roses-like tune, complete with bongos, and “Artifact” is a twangy number with pedal steel. This effort was a collaborative affair; What’s Up Newport recently reported that many of the songs were pieced together by band members sending snippets of songs to each other from across the country.
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