Melinda Gidaly

Country of origin:

Canada

Type of music generally:

Closest to alternative on our list, maybe also folk. (mapravat@prairienet.org)

Status:

Most recent release, This Mortal Lust (2002)

See also:

Melinda Gidaly's MySpace page

Comparisons:

Liz Phair, Uncle Bonsai, various Women's Music artists. (mapravat@prairienet.org)

Covers/own material:

Own

General comments:

See album comments; This Mortal Lust is the only album of hers I have heard. (mapravat@prairienet.org)

Recommended first album:

This Mortal Lust is the first we've heard

Recordings:

• Quiet Loathing Girl
• This Mortal Lust (2002)

This Mortal Lust

Release info:

2002—MGCD12602

Availability:

Unknown

Ecto priority:

Upper moderate. (mapravat@prairienet.org)

Group members:

Melinda Gidaly—vocals, guitar

Guest artists:

Drew Carr—bass on 2 tracks
Pedro Alfaro—horns on 1 track, piano on 1 track, keyboards on 2 tracks, violin on 1 track
Jeff Barkhouse—bass on 3 tracks
Tim Hamming—flute on 1 track

Produced by:

Jeff Barkhouse and Melinda Gidaly

Comments:

Gidaly's specialty, at least on this unplugged album, can best be described as semisoft erotica. The well-written lyrics clearly are about sex, but they never get too explicit, much less raunchy. Some of the songs take an acerbic view of relationships with jerks. It all has much in common with both the early and recent work of Liz Phair, but particularly her Exile in Guyville album. It also has shared qualities with the work of Uncle Bonsai, and many songs in the so-called "women's music" genre (Margie Adam, Holly Near, and many others), albeit from a specifically heterosexual perspective rather than the latter school's lesbian-feminist one.
     How much one will like this is a function of how much one likes this sort of sexual content. But that aside, the album is worth listening to for the music alone. (mapravat@prairienet.org)

Thanks to Mitch Pravatiner for his work on this entry