Melissa Auf der Maur

Out of Our Minds

(PHI-MAdM)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

When Courtney Love announced she was getting “Hole” back together (it seems like quote marks are necessary), the absence of co-founder/co-songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson was glaring but hardly surprising, as he’d largely retreated from the rock world and had branched into a vegan foods business.  And it isn’t hard to imagine even a Buddhist reaching a breaking point with Ms. Love.  But the absence of bassist Melissa Auf der Maur also seemed to be a major red flag; Auf der Maur had been an underrated part of Hole’s transition to the mainstream, and served as a yin-yang juxtaposition to Love in more ways than just her invaluable vocal harmonies.  She wasn’t a founding or formative member, but even Erlandson has since said that Hole essentially ended upon Auf der Maur’s departure in 1999, even though they kept kicking around in some form for a few years thereafter.

What’s bad news for Hole fans is good news for Auf der Maur fans, as she’s at long last back with her second solo album, having fought through the major label limbo that typified the 2000s.  And she’s back in a big way:  Out of Our Minds has its own catchy acronym (OOOM) and the album itself is the tip of a multimedia iceberg that includes a Sundance-premiered film, comic book and intense website.  There’s a concept at play that I could explain by reciting what I discovered through numerous articles about her new work, but that could create the false pretense that I deciphered the concept just through listening.  There are Vikings and witches involved.  What bursts through the album loudly, though, are less conceptual but more emotional, flesh-and-blood motifs about love and loss.

Having logged her time in Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins, Auf der Maur certainly has an understanding of epic scope, and OOOM offers plenty of arena-sized arrangements, starting with the pulse-quickening and largely instrumental intro “The Hunt” and then moving into the title track, built on a dramatic riff, poppy chorus and “ah-ah-ah!” shrieks that all hearken back to heyday of her former bands; while Auf der Maur isn’t confined to that framework, it certainly makes a deep impression on her album.  So alt-rock haters, stay away – oh, and get over yourselves. 

The biggest curveball comes on “Father’s Grave,” an unexpected duet with Glenn Danzig.  It’s the most clearly defined narrative on the album, and Auf der Maur and Danzig play off each other effectively, leading to some genuine dramatic tension.  In an ideal world, though, I’d have preferred to hear Nick Cave in the role of Gravedigger – to such an extent that I hear his voice in my head when I listen to the track. 

Auf der Maur is an ace on her main instrument; she’s almost always done work on bass that’s above and beyond the norm, and her solo work certainly doesn’t hesitate to tap into this strength.  Just four tracks in, she leads Jordon Zadorozny and Vince Nudo on a powerful and spontaneous-sounding instrumental take (“Lead Horse”) that has the capacity to really crush live.

The same goes for “Meet Me on the Dark Side,” another of the album’s standouts.  The sometimes murky intersections of spirituality and sexuality are explored in a manner reminiscent of Tori Amos, though obviously there are some clear sonic differences.  The unifier is that it’s all a search for a transcendent moment – a moment out of our minds.  Of course, that doesn’t mean all rainbows and hallelujahs.  “Everyone has a dark side / Why don’t you like mine?” she asks amidst a gathering storm of keys and drums.  Oh, but we do, Melissa!