Melissa Auf der Maur returns with archive-built Bass Womb Room
The former Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist will release a project pairing Nineties four-track demos with new pieces made for a photo installation.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
Melissa Auf der Maur is turning her old tapes, bass-amp footage and private Nineties experiments into Bass Womb Room, a new project Rolling Stone reports will contain her first new music in more than 15 years.
The musician, known for her time with Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins, will release Bass Womb Room: My ‘90s 4-Track Demos x Field Recordings on Sept. 4 through Envision Records, according to Rolling Stone. The album brings together unreleased demos from the Nineties with eight newly made interlude pieces connected to an upcoming photography exhibit and installation.
The older recordings came from Auf der Maur’s Los Angeles living room, where she used a Tascam four-track cassette machine, Rolling Stone reports. The tracks were built mostly with acoustic guitar and stacked vocals, with bass, keyboard and field recordings also worked in.
Those field recordings included everyday noises such as a dripping faucet and the click of a camera shutter, according to the report. Auf der Maur also used cassette experiments including reversed tape and pitch shifting.
Her vocal approach on the demos was loose and private. Rolling Stone reports that some lyrics came through spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness takes, while others were read directly from her daily diary.
In a statement quoted by Rolling Stone, Auf der Maur said the songs were written while she and her peers were facing pressure from the major-label rock business to make polished radio hits. She described the recordings as “the sound of my internal experimentation” and said they helped keep “the Montreal art girl alive inside.”
She added that the material captured “the quiet and private side of the girl who joined the big American major label rock band.”
The newer interludes were created for Auf der Maur’s photo exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Rolling Stone reports, but they are also rooted in older material. During her years playing with Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins, she filmed crowds by placing a video camera on her bass amp.
Audio from those audience recordings was sampled for the new compositions, according to Rolling Stone. The pieces connect those fragments with what the report describes as a bass-like heartbeat.
A teaser for “Skip A Beat” has also appeared on Auf der Maur’s YouTube channel, according to the embedded video cited by Rolling Stone.
The Bass Womb Room rollout will stretch across several days in September. Rolling Stone reports that the photo exhibit and installation opens Sept. 2, the album follows Sept. 4, and an accompanying photobook is scheduled for Sept. 8.
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.