Melissa Auf Der Maur - Out of our Minds [Album]
Flame haired, pale skinned and full of a charm and quirkiness that makes her irresistible. I am of course referring to the one and only Melissa Auf Der Maur. One time bassist for both The Smashing Pumpkins and Hole, Largely overlooked due to people heaping praise on both of those bands chief songwriters and front people, Melissa went and released a solo album in 2004 which spawned the singles Real a Lie, Follow the Waves and Taste You and it proved that Melissa Auf Der Maur was a talented and unique songwriter in her own right.
Things had been a little quiet on the Melissa Auf Der Maur front for a few years and both The Smashing Pumpkins and Hole have since reformed without even a second thought of including her, obviously both Courtney Love and Billy Corgan allowing their own egos to get in the way of letting them to, once again share the stage with such a talented performer. It may indeed be Melissa who has the last laugh though as she prepares to release her 2nd solo album through her new label Roadrunner. "Out of our Minds" is part of a multi woven concept project with roots in Viking lore, alongside a short film and comic book which have all been overseen by Melissa herself. Ive always been a fan of Melissa Auf Der Maur and it was with great anticipation that I waited for my copy of this album to arrive. Thankfully for me, time hasnt slowed Melissa Auf Der Maur down and she still has the incredible pop sensibilities she always did, and puts them to good use here. "Out of our Minds" displays a step forward for her as a song writer, while she hasnt completely changed direction you can see the improvement in her writing abilities.
"Out of our Minds" is a haunting and beautiful album that sounds like it could have been released by Tori Amos, who I would say is probably Melissas only real songwriting equal. Both Tori Amos and Melissa Auf Der Maur share a songwriting brain (it would seem) in the sense that they take the strangest (at least on first listen) lyrics and meld them onto some of the most unique and dark sounding music whilst it still comes out as a brilliant and accesible pop song.
"Out of our Minds" is an album I found myself drawn to almost instantly, due in large part to the vocals and a great sense of familiarity. Ive always found Melissas voice to be interesting and soothing, the tone of it in particular. She is able to switch between wailing and a dark deep almost seductive tone with ease and grace and as I stated above she can take the most interesting lyrics and make them accessible, leaving her work somewhere between the heartfelt and the whimsical. There are three songs in particular on "Out of our Minds" that sound like they could be on the first album. 'The Hunt, Out of our Minds and The Key all have that familiar sound and help to really ease the listener in because with those songs you already know where you stand and feel welcomed back into that world again. There was one particular curveball on the album and that was Fathers Grave which features a duet with a misfit son of Sam (Ill let you figure out who Im alluding to) that just blew me away and is probably my favourite track on the album just because its so haunting.
Overall "Out of our Minds" was everything I expected it to be and in some cases a little bit more. This album reinforces the case that Melissa Auf Der Maur is a capable and uniquely talented song writer in her own right. Free from the shackles of playing second fiddle to rock star egos shows that she can really shine in her own right. "Out of our Minds" is both ambitious and full of wonderful pop songs that will get under your skin and into your head. There is no point trying to resist, you might as well surrender yourself over now, because you wont be able to get "Out of our Minds" out of your mind!