ALBUM REVIEW: Melanie Baker – Somebody Help Me, I’m Being Spontaneous!

Tambourhinoceros (School of X)

Released: 10.04.26

Grunge may well be remembered as the last great paradigm shift in guitar music, blowing the hair metal doors and elongated solos off the car in exchange for lumberjack shirts and detuned barre chords, much like punk reacting against the cocky musical racketeering of prog rock. However, what grunge really ushered in was a new era of female-led musicians, the nth wave of feminism or whatever but a new corridor of inclusivity nonetheless, and something that punk had ultimately failed to deliver on. So, while Nirvana were the poster boys, Hole were arguably more accessible, more right-on and more grunge. For every Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees there was an equal measure of L7 and Breeders, Bikini Kill, Veruca Salt, even the likes of Luscious Jackson. And, as this was all thirty-odd years ago, it’s absolutely fine for Melanie Baker to fill her debut album full of musical touchpoints reclaiming its grit and spirit but now shone through a queer, modern lens; while the Truman Show referencing album title shows she is not afraid of being taken too seriously as she binds absurdist humour to a confessional, emotional core.

Opening with a minute of grungy discordant feedback on AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! sets out Melanie’s stall on SHMIBS! but first full track Sad Clown is out-of-time minor chords by numbers salvaged only by a sprinkling of melodic twists. Latest single HAHA! showcases Melanie’s versatility as a songwriter to good effect by widening her net to add early-Britpop’s bouncy nostalgia, but elsewhere the first half of SHMIBS! fails to live up to expectations often too closely aligning with her grunge influences. My Head Fell Off Last Night is at least a welcome change of pace, slowing things down to something of a shoegaze waltz while a long instrumental outro is a real musical highlight early on.

It’s the second half of SHMIBS! where Melanie really shines, steering more into an alt. rock wind to great effect. Real Life owes a debt to Wet Leg perhaps who, of course, take their influence from many of the same 90s and 00s scruffy but high-energy acts. City Strange is pure Courtney Love but also not, and it’s that juxtaposition and variety the first half of this record seems to fear.

On standout ballad, Bye Bye Loser Blues (blending elements of Heart Of Gold, Fade Into You and It’s All Over Now Baby Blue), the “I wanna feel lost in the city” line evokes Craig Finn’s God In Chicago or Better Oblivion Community Center’s Service Road, and a sense of worthlessness despite a deep rooted sense of belonging. It’s effortlessly cool compared to the one-paced grunge of the first half of the record and is more akin to the alt. charm of Melanie’s live shows. Slugs follows a similar pattern to great effect: slower, acoustic with a steadily dissipating organ motif that makes way for a sleazy guitar anthem for those suppressed and oppressed.

So, while Somebody Help Me, I’m Being Spontaneous! doesn’t quite live up to (my admittedly very high) expectations, it seems a shame to be critical in review because this is a record that will likely be one of the best debut albums to come from our region this year and who knows where Melanie Baker will be this time next year, or the year after. And what are arbitrary scores and references anyway…