Melissa Auf Der Maur
“Auf Der Maur”
Capitol Records
It’s hard for a musician to shed the restraints of their band and blossom into a full-fledged solo artist after handling mainly instrumental duties in a band.
Dave Grohl went on to front Foo Fighters after drumming for Nirvana.
Phil Collins started off as the drummer for Genesis before fronting said band and eventually going solo.
Jerry Cantrell was the guitarist for Alice in Chains before trying his hand at a solo career,
And now, after a nearly two year wait, Melissa Auf Der Mau’s debut album is finally seeing the light of day.
Moving to the United States in 1994, Auf Der Maur played bass in Hole for 5 years and followed that up with a final album and farewell tour with Smashing Pumpkins. There were hints — most notably her backing vocals during the time in Hole — that there was more to Auf Der Maur than just a bass player and a pretty face. So in 2001, the musician began the process of putting together her first solo-album.
According to Auf Der Maur (via her Web-site), “The songwriting took place over the last decade. For creative reasons, it was important for me to do this on my own, before even entertaining the thought of a record company. So I got a plan together and spent every penny I’ve made. I just needed to make my album with no thought of how it would get out there.”
Auf Der Maur collaborated with many other musicians throughout the recording, most notably Eric Erlandson (formerly of Hole), James Iha (formerly of Smashing Pumpkins), Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and Brandt Bjork (formerly of QotSA and Kyuss).
As for the recording of each track, Auf Der Maur laid a foundation down with a drummer (recording bass, guitar and vocals herself) and then invited other musicians to build upon each song in specific areas.
So, is Auf Der Mau’s “Auf Der Maur” a success? Well, kind of.
“Auf Der Maur” is an eclectic collection of songs, sounding familiar to everything from Sonic Youth to Veruca Salt to the musician’s former bands. Vocally, Auf Der Maur seems very gifted, which has been apparent since her backup vocals during Hole’s “MTV Unplugged” performance and cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Black Gold Woman” (off the “Crow: City of Angels” soundtrack) outshined the band’s frontwoman.
Most of the tracks on “Auf Der Maur” suck you in in a hypnotizing fashion. The album’s lead-off single, “Followed the Waves,” chugs along repetitively, lulling the listener with it’s stoner-rock murkiness. Homme and Bjork work great together, but it’s Auf Der Mau’s almost-melancholic voice and amazing vocal range that is the true star here.
The track’s follow-up, “Real a Lie,” keeps the sludgy (yet upbeat) undertone, but is a better song if only for the simple yet catchy chorus reminiscent of a band like Lush or Magnapop.
The rest of the disc is a mix of flavors: the sexually-charged “Taste You” was obviously born out of the Auf Der Mau’s time in Hole; “Beast of Honor” has an opening closely resembling a water-logged Nirvana; “My Foggy Notion” is a great QotSA-inspired rocker; “I Need I Want I Will” and “My Foggy Notion” have an subtle, interesting middle-eastern flavor flowing through them.
The problem here is that, as good as songs like “Followed the Waves” and “Real a Lie” are, there’s just too much slow filler here that, at times, just sounds boring. Despite Auf Der Mau’s strong vocals the songs are lyrically weak, bordering on triteness most of the time. And the eclectic element surrounding the album as a whole actually weakens the overall product  Auf Der Maur swings from stoner-rock to alternative pop to hollow, pseudo-jazz cum rocker tracks (like “I’ll Be Anything You Want”) so if you like a couple of songs, there’s the possiblity you might not like others.
Despite the album’s short-comings, Auf Der Mau’s vocals and musical sensibility is compelling enough to warrant a listen. The album does a great job of showcasing Auf Der Mau’s fantastic voice but is hit or miss on the song-crafting end of things. This album was a sort of labor of love for Auf Der Maur, so hopefully it will do a good job of getting her foot back in the door of the music scene.
