Melt, the New York-based indie outfit that has been gradually making a name for itself for years with its gripping mix of soul, rock, and pop, has announced the coming release of its debut studio album, If There’s a Heaven, due out on September 13th, 2024. Along with the announcement of If There’s a Heaven, the band detailed a lengthy 2024 fall tour and released the LP’s first single, “Plant the Garden”.
If There’s a Heaven, recorded live to tape with producer Sam Evian, features 11 tracks that range from existential, feel-good pop songs to stirring ballads to lush, soulful rock and roll. A soundtrack for coming of age and finding oneself and one’s community, the album represents the culmination of a process that began seven years ago with the release of Melt’s viral hit, “Sour Candy”, written and recorded when the band’s members were still in high school. After spending the next five years studying at separate colleges and linking up on weekends to play shows, the group released its West Side Highway EP in 2021 and toured nationally, further developing the intuitive creative relationship between its members and cementing Melt as a band on the rise.
The first single from the album, “Plant the Garden”, was recorded in April 2023 with Sam Evian at Flying Cloud Studios in the Catskills. The experience was so positive and immersive, vocalist Veronica Stewart-Frommmer explained to Live For Live Music, that Melt decided to return to Flying Cloud in December 2023 to record the entire album.
The new track, out now, uses ’80s pop sonics and a cathartic, sing-along chorus to illustrate lyrical themes examining the perplexities of letting go. As Stewart-Frommer told Live For Live Music of the track’s meaning, “‘Plant the Garden’ is a song about clinging to the things that harm you—something that’s usually a bad idea yet such a common human experience. I wrote the lyrics when I was involved in a relationship that was taking a negative toll on both parties. It was clear that the right thing to do was to break it off, but habit is strong and fear of change is even stronger! Honestly, I was taking a loving jab at myself… I was so self-aware about the situation yet unable to let go. It was kind of like… ‘Well, what did you expect?’ That’s where the punch line ‘That’s what you get, I told you so!’ came from.”
Click here to listen to “Plant the Garden” on the platform of your choice or pre-order If There’s a Heaven, the new album from Melt. Watch the official “Plant the Garden” visualizer video below.
Melt – “Plant the Garden” (Visualizer)
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Melt’s Veronica Stewart-Frommer, Marlo Shankweiler (guitar), Eric Gabriel (piano), and Lucas Saur (bass), along with album/tour drummer Andrés Valbuena, will hit the road this fall in support of If There’s a Heaven. The nationwide tour, featuring support from MARIS, is due to kick off on October 3rd at Indianapolis, IN’s Hi-Fi Annex and continue through November 16th, when the band will make its homecoming with a performance at Brooklyn, NY’s Brooklyn Steel.
Notable stops along the way include Chicago, IL’s Park West (10/4), Madison, WI’s High Noon Saloon (10/7), Denver, CO’s Ogden Theatre (10/12), Seattle, WA’s Neumos (10/18), San Francisco, CA’s The Independent (10/22), Los Angeles, CA’s The Bellwether (10/24), Austin, TX’s Antone’s Nightclub (10/29), Nashville, TN’s Cannery Hall – The Mil (11/1), Asheville, NC’s The Grey Eagle (11/2), Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 Club (11/7), Philadelphia, PA’s Brooklyn Bowl Philly (11/8), and Boston, MA’s Royale (11/9).
View a full list of upcoming Melt If There’s a Heaven tour dates below. For ticketing details, head here.
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