Sara Melson 'Dirty Mind' album

Sara Melson is an original, an artist intent on expressing complex feelings with a unique emotional honesty and quietly soulful vocal style. On her self-produced full-length debut, Dirty Mind, due out February 26th on Nettwerk Records, she delivers 12 songs graced by flowing melodies, vigorous grooves, and plainspoken poetry. Dirty Mind developed slowly over the past few years while Melson held down day jobs as a kids’ music teacher and a yoga instructor. “I didn’t have the luxury of being able to hole up in a studio,” she explains. “This record was made guerrilla style, in fits and starts. It wasn’t a long soak in a bath. More like a cold shower. But it kept the music fresh, because we'd have to go in on off hours and crank out six songs in a night.”

The birth process may have been arduous, but Melson’s emotive singing and commanding musicality holds the eclectic mix together, showcasing her skills as both rocker and intensely personal songwriter. Two days after she finished the album, a friend brought her to a party at Nettwerk Records, where she met CEO Terry McBride. The two bonded over their shared love of yoga and music, and McBride asked to hear the songs. He passed them along to his creative partner Mark Jowett, and Nettwerk picked up the record for worldwide release.

On Dirty Mind, bright pop songs, meditative ballads, and sorrowful country laments snuggle up to propulsive rockers, all marked by her gift for deeply personal lyrics that shine an understanding light on the tribulations of love and intimacy. “Never Been Hurt” is a timeless, classic pop ballad that delivers one of the album’s most memorable lyrical and vocal hooks with a soothing, melancholic melody. Sara sings it like a prayer, a hypnotic mantra full of subtle fire. “We all have the desire to approach relationships, and life in general, from an innocent perspective, no matter how hard that can be,” she says. “It’s pretty challenging to love someone like you’ve never been hurt before, to remember what it felt like to be totally open. It’s an invitation to look at life head on, always, without fear.”

In “Turquoise Sky” a ghostly slide swoops down to pull you into its poignant spell, while a classical electric piano figure supports a distorted guitar line, giving the tune a delicate tension. The bridge builds to a triumphant swell that implies deliverance and salvation. “I looked up one night and saw one perfect star appear next to the moon, and realized that everyone walks under the same sky. Even when you’re alone, that knowledge can soothe you.” The slow, simmering seduction of the title track, “Dirty Mind,” includes the sanctified sound of a church organ, providing a spiritual aspect to its celebration of carnal pleasure. Melson’s purring lethargic vocal gives the track some added heat. “I'm trying to embrace all of my contradictions,” she says. “The fact is, I do have a dirty mind, while at the same time I have a very active spiritual life. I celebrate both.”

This dichotomy is further explored in the moody, bittersweet “Happy Endings,” which begins as a personal love song and moves into the universal realm with an uplifting chorus that calls out to the best in all of us. “I'm interested in transformation, of myself and of the world,” Sara says. “In whatever way I can, I want to be a part of the solution, not the pollution. I believe that people inherently mean well, even though some have forgotten their way.” The poignant minor key track is carried by a driving acoustic guitar and complemented by long sustained pedal steel lines, vigorous piano, and a passionate, imploring vocal. “Nuclear Sun” is a measured rocker that opens with a gentle chiming electric guitar and slowly builds to a swirling, densely layered psychedelic climax. One of the album’s most dramatic and most political tracks, it invokes the cult of celebrity, homelessness, and pollution, before the explosive bridge takes on the threat of ecological disaster. It’s a chilling indictment of the indifference that has allowed the world to reach its current state, and a reminder of the fleeting nature of our brief lives. Melson’s quietly intense lyrics are sung with anguish and desperation, but the song is ultimately inspiring, despite its dark warning. And indeed, in the anthemic “Feel It Coming,” Melson affirms her undaunted idealism, singing triumphantly about better times to come.

Throughout Dirty Mind, Melson charms us with her expressive vocals and musical versatility. Her understated arrangements add subtle color and depth to the songs, allowing the music to unfold slowly with each listen. It’s a collection of uncommon depth and maturity, one that lets the world know that she is ready to make her mark. “Success happens when preparation meets opportunity,” Sara says wisely. “I’ve had opportunities before and wasn’t ready, but they’re converging now. I’ve worked hard and been patient, and now it looks like everything’s coming my way at the right time.”

press quotes
"L.A. has plenty of attractive singer-songwriters who sing perfectly delightful ballads. Sara Melson amps-up her sound with a stellar backing band and an impressive batch of self-released rockers that crush you the same way Liz Phair's visceral debut and Neko Case's bone chilling Blacklisted did."
--LiveMagazine.com

"Sometimes, to expose oneself at one's most fragile and vulnerable is the ultimate act of courage. And if that's the case, then Sara Melson is one of the most fearless singer-songwriters on the planet. Her quiet strength shines through in her winsome space-balladry...Sara Melson just rocks, plain and simple."
--Lyndsey Parker, Launch.com/Yahoo

"Like Laura Nyro hooking up with Beggars' Banquet-era Rolling Stones...Something special."
--Steven Mirkin, Daily Variety

"Sara Melson's songs take you there via real stories, real life, and real emotion."
--Billy Zero, XM Satellite Radio

“Sara Melson is one of the most fearless singer-songwriters on the planet. Her quiet strength shines through in her winsome space-balladry… Sara just rocks, plain and simple.”
--Lyndsey Parker, Yahoo.com

“Like Laura Nyro hooking up with Beggars’ Banquet-era Rolling Stones…”
--Steven Mirkin, Daily Variety

biography
Sara Melson grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana, the child of two professors, in a house crammed full of books. “I’d spend hours in my room writing. I have stacks of journals, full of lyrics, poems, random bits of stories,” Sara says. She was also obsessed with her parents’ record collection, memorizing every note and word of her favorite records: The Stones, The Beatles, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, The Band, Neil Young, Bowie, and Van Morrison. A fearless performer from day one, she never missed a chance to get up on stage. Laughing, she recalls belting out “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” at a bar mitzvah at age eight, and making her parents’ dinner guests into her audience, as she crooned showtunes into her hairbrush-microphone.

Classically trained on the piano, Sara taught herself the guitar. “I started on acoustic, and was itching to rock,” she says. “Pretty soon I had a really loud amp and a bunch of pedals, and began making lots of noise. I could only play the proverbial three chords at first, but was putting my words to music almost immediately. Interestingly, it was through discovering guitar that I realized I could actually write my own songs on the piano as well, instead of being wedded to reading off of sheet music.”

Sara began recording first on four track, then on eight track. “When I write a song, I can’t sleep until it’s recorded. I don’t know if I’m fatalistic, but if something happened to me, nobody would ever hear it. As soon as I get it down, I feel better.” In 2003, she released Five Song EP, self-produced at home and in the studios of friends. Launch/Yahoo made it a Top Ten Pick in its Cool as Folk Radiocast. Songs from the EP aired on Indie 103.1, XM Satellite Radio, and KCRW, and were featured in the ABC television show Men In Trees, the new Viacom show South Of Nowhere, and the independent film Spectres. Meanwhile, gigs both solo and with various band incarnations allowed Sara the opportunity to hone her sound and clarify her own voice. “One of the best compliments I’ve ever received,” she says, “was when someone told me that I don’t sing like anybody else.”

Sara has shared the stage with the BRMC, Juliana Hatfield, Ben Lee, Jill Sobule, Ian Ball, Marjorie Faire, and Mojave 3. She was a featured artist at the Midwest Music Summit, and was sponsored on an acoustic tour of Japan. Two days after finishing her self-produced full-length album, a friend brought her to a party at Nettwerk Records, where she met CEO Terry McBride. The two bonded over their shared love of yoga and music, and McBride asked to hear her songs. He passed them along to his creative partner Mark Jowett, and Nettwerk picked up the album for worldwide release.

With her self-produced debut album Dirty Mind in stores February 26th, Sara is ready to hit the road, both solo and with her band. “I want to let my music take me wherever it wants to go,” she says. “On record, you capture a unique moment in time. It’s amazing and beautiful to have that documented, but I’m constantly evolving beyond that as an artist, as a singer and as a player. If you come to see me live expecting to hear just what’s on the record, you’re going to be pleasantly surprised."

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Sara Melson - Dirty Mind