The two sides of Sara Melson

Just because she's reclining both in the picture above and the cover below of her debut album Dirty Mind, don't get the idea that singer-songwriter Sara Melson isn't on the move. It might have taken her a few years to lay down the twelve tracks on this self-produced album, but it's because she created it while also working as a kids' music teacher and a yoga instructor.

I've been listening to this lately in tandem with Jaymay's album Autumn Fallin' (which I wrote about yesterday) and in some ways they offer balance to each other. As with Jaymay's album, Sara focuses a lot on grappling with life, including relationships. In many of Sara's songs, the connection with that other person is made through the eyes (ironically enough as she singing about it with words) and where as ultimately the outlook on Jaymay's album was rather dismal, with Sara it's up and down, but mostly up...with optimism shining through (try Anywhere Anytime below). I'm not sure if it's a result of the tracks being recorded over such a long length of time, but even Sara's voice, which delivers lyrics in a raspy thoughtful way, seems to evolve between tracks as well.

As far as the album title goes, Sara has this to say about it: "The fact is, I do have a dirty mind, while at the same time I have a very active spiritual life. I celebrate both." This duality in Sara's nature comes through on a few of the tracks. On the title track (which you can listen to below), she sings,

Summer's getting hotter
and winter's growing colder
And everybody's turning another year older
I wonder when I'll be lying head to toe again
With you my friend
And time will stop and space will bend

Obviously this isn't dirt on the level of someone like Peaches, but instead it's something much more sensual and intimate. In terms of that spiritual connection Sara mentions, you can see that in several songs with her appealing to a higher power, not necessarily a specific God, to help her deal with this world. In the album's closer (not counting an acoustic version of an earlier track) titled Birthday Wish,

Please God, take care of me,
Enter me so I may be free
Help me breathe in slowly, without fear
Why can't I accept the truth
Even I will lose my youth
I'd better learn this lesson while I'm here

It's a fairly powerful plea, especially coming from one so young, someone with their whole life ahead of them. It also shows wisdom seldom seen (or heard) in much of today's music.

Songs from the album have already appeared on several TV shows (which seem to be the latest and greatest marketing thrust) including Grey’s Anatomy and Men In Trees. It comes out tomorrow, but here are a few tracks to listen to tonight to convince you to order it in the morning.

Sara Melson - Anywhere Anytime : Dirty Mind


Sara Melson - Dirty Mind : Dirty Mind

Visit her website, her label Nettwerk Music, and become her friend on MySpace.