Throwing Muses: University (Sire/Reprise)

KRISTIN HERSH may envy the commercial inroads made by Belly and the Breeders, but she'd never let it show. Having helped pave the way for her more mainstream sisters, the head Throwing Muse has no intention of making a cheesy bid for mass acceptance. Although University lacks the overt eccentricities of the band's early efforts, this alluring, elusive opus resists reduction to easy formulas. It's easy to admire Hersh's evocative textures and tantalizing implications. Hearing them as a convincing whole is harder.