MELD‘s music can be described as cinematic R&B, with undertones of Jam and Electronica. Her “vocal runs and sultry sound” have been compared by Nashville songwriter Bruce Miller (Dixie Chicks, Reba McEntire, and Rascall Flatts,) to that of Rihanna. MELD draws inspiration from powerful female performers and songwriters such as Nai Palm from Haitus Kaiyote, Susan Tedeschi, Stevie Nicks, Janis Joplin, and Kalmia Traver from Rubblebucket.
A Nashville-based musical act just under one year old, MELD and her 6-piece band have already played events such as Nashville’s Music City Big Break on Cannery Row (October of 2016,) The Happening at Bearded Iris Brewery in West Nashville (September 2016,) and Summer Jam Finale/Whatchakalooza at Harp & Fiddle Nashville in late summer 2016. They’ve also played well-known Nashville venues such as The Basement, The Country, The High Watt, Mercy Lounge, Mad Donna’s, and more.
In this interview spotlight, we chat with MELD about the new project, influences, the digital music era and more.
Full Q&A along with links and a stream of Hurt below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I am from Syracuse, NY – but I also lived in Miami, FL for several years during college. Now, I’ve found a happy medium in Nashville. I have been known to coin my sort of self-made genre as “Cinematic R&B” with elements of Soul, Jam, and Electronica. Basically, I was raised on mostly Jam Bands, Classic Rock, and Musical Theater – and then I went to college in Miami during the EDM revolution in 2010. So, coining that genre was my way of attempting to describe bridging all of my favorite kinds of music into my own sound.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
I think it’s something I’ve always been intrinsically called to do. I started singing when I was about 5, and writing songs at 7. It’s funny because not one person in my family was musical, yet I was always insistent on being a part of the arts and getting instrument and voice lessons, while they all wanted to play sports. But the motivation to stay? That’s a bit more complex.
Music can be something I do for fun, for the rest of my life – and I have no doubt it always will be. But the choice to make it a career goal is definitely not a common one. I think what motivates me the most is the reality that no matter how bad things get, and no matter how much darkness I face – with music, at least I can turn that pain into something beautiful, relatable, and inspiring. If I can make that my career – I will always have a solid, loving foundation to turn to.
Plus, with all of the madness that’s going on in politics and in the world today, I feel even more inspired than ever to create spaces of love for people. There’s so much hate being spewed across all forms of media, that I feel an urge to push back with the unbridled truth and honesty that comes with creating art.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
The biggest difference, aside from the fact that my previous work was more of the singer/songwriter genre, was the name change that accompanied it. Before I was MELD, I was Melanie Dewey.
I have always released everything I’ve done under my birth name, but I felt I had undergone such an intense transition in the past two years of my life – that the name didn’t fully suit me anymore. Basically, Melanie Dewey was, and always will be the name of the songwriter behind the project. But after facing some of my deepest fears and coming out the other side of them – I felt the songs I had written were no longer just mine – but belonged to the entire experience.
MELD is my way of encompassing more than just myself into one big broad, band-name-esque moniker. To me it means, oneness, unity, and collaboration. To me, the name is bold and all-encompassing. It honors not just the songwriter, but the producer, the guitar player, the band, the stage hand, everything that’s a part of the experience in some way or another.
What I set out to accomplish, was just that: Challenging myself to evolve into something greater than just myself. It was definitely hard to let go of my old name, but the more I’ve grown into it – the more I love it.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
I definitely think that now, with the digital age – good music tends to often fall between the cracks. We’re constantly getting new memes, new art, new media thrown at us all the time on Facebook or elsewhere. How do we decide what sticks, and what doesn’t deserve our time? It’s up to us – as the artists – to create something that’s eye catching, and timeless. But, even if we do that successfully, it can still sometimes get missed on social media.
Even with the quick turnover time of content, it still is a positive thing that people are sharing new ideas and things more and more. Your art is more likely to be shared, even if it’s less likely to stick around on people’s news feeds for longer than a few days.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
You can find me on the following social channels:
Anything else before we sign off?
If you’re interested in talking about the name behind the title, “H.U.R.T.” stands for “Healing Under Rising Truth.” To me this EP signifies lessons I learned about our ability to grow, and transform into something so beautiful – under our acceptance of even the harshest truths. Sometimes, our tears are the very thing that water us.
