In this episode, we talk with Melanie Maclaren about giving herself permission to be an artist, crediting history, comedy, and philosophy as influences and her EP “Bloodlust.”  

The EP "Blood Lust's" writing came from a period in Melanie’s life that was marred by grief,loss, and illness. The project is an ode to seeing things as they are - without mythology or artificial glory. Not to shy away from life’s paradoxes and dualities of life, this project is Melanie’s most high-spirited anthemic music to date. The songs draw deeply from 90’s country influences with hints of Lucinda Williams, Silver Jews, and Gillian Welch, all while staying true to herinstinct for flipping conventions of the genre and subject matter on their head. Melanie’s lyrics have been described as “haunting yet humorous” and possessing a “sentimental cynicism” that “oozes with Gen-Z relatability.” This duality shines through in all aspects of her music—she’s a classical finger-style guitar who grew up playing classical but uses ambient beds and distorted traditional instruments to punctuate her compositions. At her core, Melanie is a realist with a gift for language that extracts beauty from even the darkest reality and a unique ability to blend a tongue-in-cheek sensibility with timeless style.  

Check Melanie out here—