Full Breakdown
Melissa Auf der Maur Returns with “Bass Womb Room” After 15-Year Hiatus
7/21/2026, 12:53:58 PM
New Album Details
Melissa Auf der Maur’s first new music in over 15 years arrives as Bass Womb Room: My ’90s 4-Track Demos x Field Recordings, released digitally and on cassette on September 4, 2026 via Envision Records. The collection pairs seven previously unreleased four-track demos recorded on a Tascam cassette in her Montreal living-room during the 1990s with eight new interlude pieces produced by Alex Crow. The interludes are intended to score an upcoming photography exhibition.
Artistic Context and Related Projects
The demos were built around acoustic-guitar foundations, layered with vocals, and manipulated with tape-loop tricks such as reversal and pitch-shifting. Everyday sounds—including a leaky faucet and camera shutter—were captured on a compact cassette dictaphone and incorporated into the tracks. This release follows the March publication of her memoir *Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A ’90s Rock Memoir* and precedes the 240-page photobook *My ’90s Rock Photographs*. The accompanying exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario opens to members on September 2 and to the public on September 8, running for a year before traveling internationally.
Official Statements & Responses
Auf der Maur framed the archival material as a response to “rising pressure from the major-label-driven music industry” that urged artists to produce glossy radio hits. She characterized the demos as “the sound of my internal experimentation” and a way to keep her “Montreal art girl” identity alive. The new interludes constitute a “bass-forward” ambient score, allowing her to “ease herself back into sound” through what she calls “the innocence place.”
Verbatim Quotes
- “I wrote these songs in the context of rising pressure from the major label-driven music industry on myself and my peers to make glossy hit songs to dominate radio airwaves,” — Melissa Auf der Maur
- “These songs are the sound of my internal experimentation and a way of keeping the Montreal art girl alive inside.” — Melissa Auf der Maur
- “These songs are the sound of my internal experimentation and a way of keeping the Montreal art girl alive inside. These sounds are the quiet and private side of the girl who joined the big American major label rock band.” — Melissa Auf der Maur
- “The museum exhibit of my photography that's coming out with my book [My ’90s Rock Photographs]opens in Toronto in September, and it's up for a year, and then it will travel internationally,” — Melissa Auf der Maur
- “It's a very large exhibit, and one room is an ode to my bass and the fans, and it's called the Bass Room, and I'm building a sonic score to the installation.” — Melissa Auf der Maur
What’s Next
- Album release: September 4, 2026.
- Photography exhibition: private opening September 2, public opening September 8, 2026 at the Art Gallery of Ontario; the show will travel internationally after its year-long run.
