Maur is more
If there were a Purple Heart for rock & rollers, Melissa Auf der Maur would likely be in possession of at least three. As bass player with Hole, Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson, she managed to survive three of modern music's most notorious and unstable tyrants, apparently none the worse for wear.
Her utterly electrifying sophomore solo album, the pithily titled Out Of Our Minds, offers some distinct clues as to how she might have accomplished such a feat. She delivers such enlightened philosophical benedictions as, "Travel out of our minds and into our hearts" and "I'm your healer and you're mine" with such cool, unshakeable self-possession, you almost forget she's also one of the hottest creatures ever to sling a four-stringer over her neck.
Naturally, the songs also seeth with slinky sexuality; indeed, amidst the shimmering metallics of the title track, she lasciviously coaxes, "Come sit by my fire"—and it's hard to imagine anyone, male or female, turning her down. The greater part of Out Of Our Minds is awash in screeching, ethereal guitars and thundering drums, the anxious sensuality and glam-goth overtones recalling Placebo at their fulminating best, minus all that pesky nihilism, of course.
Better still, she effortlessly manages to out-conceptualize former band mate and hopelessly grandiose conceptualist Billy Corgan: Out Of Our Minds is accompanied by a 28-minute film (which debuted at Sundance) and, would you believe, a comic book? For our part, she was already one of our favorite superheroes.
Perhaps understanding that in these rather dreary times, we’re all in need of an intoxicating dose of escapism, the dazzling Ms. Auf der Maur tempts without a jot of ambiguity, "Meet me on the dark side / Enter from the inside.” We wouldn’t recommend keeping her waiting.
Ken Scrudato
TAGS: melissa auf der maur out of our minds second album video billy corgan sundance hole marilyn manson
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