Melanie MacLaren

There are some artists who take all of our favorite aspects of indie-folk and combine them into a single, magnificent performance. Fans of raw and heartfelt works of music, meet Melanie MacLaren. Her fresh release, “Dissociating at a Tiki Bar in a Landlocked State,” showed up at our doorstep, wrapped inside the aural fabric of Julien Baker and Sharon Van Etten (if you’ve been reading our blog, you know that we simply cannot say no to this).

MacLaren grew up in New York but migrated to Nashville a couple of years ago and the result is music that is neither here nor there, but everywhere all at once. Don’t get us wrong– “Dissociating at a Tiki Bar in a Landlocked State” has a fantastic intro that any fan of finger-plucked mastery will appreciate, but what made us decide to feature the track is the grand crescendo that arrives in your ears after about two and a half minutes of MacLaren’s fantastic “stream-of-conscious, tongue-in-cheek yet timeless” vocal work. If you have the luxury of listening to this through headphones, all we can say is you’re welcome. And if you’re at home, crank up those speakers a bit and tell your neighbors the same.

MacLaren is in the process of releasing another solo project, as well as a project of folk duets for 2022, which we are dying to hear. Until then, her debut EP, Kill My Time, was released February 11, 2022 and is well worth your time:

-TM