By Gregory Hedquist
Stoking the embers of their 2024 debut album “If There’s a Heaven” along with their still fresh singles “Find Somebody” and “Stay for the High,” New York City’s “Melt” rode to Athens this past April for a stop on a relentless and encompassing North America tour. On the evening of April 28th, me and a friend (fellow WUOG staffer DJ Ben) walked downtown and into the Georgia Theatre right as the doors opened. As we began to converse with the people who filed in little by little, we spoke with a fellow UGA student who had been a big fan of the band for a few years. I, not having listened to much of the band’s material, asked what the music was like and after a bit of probing, I took away that Melt’s music was “not danceable.” By the end of the show, I was left veritably wondering if me and the people I talked to were listening to the same group.
As people continued to come in, Nashville-based Claire Ernst took the stage with nothing but a guitar, a piano and a microphone. Right away, she opened with a song that reflected her Upper South roots: A punchy piano backed hard, confrontational soul-inspired vocals. From that she transitioned from a sustained, mellow R&B inspired piano melody to something more akin to acoustic guitar pop and then country, all of which beautifully supported her as she flexed the range of her silky smooth mezzo-soprano vocals.
During what little downtime her set offered, her charisma was immediately felt beyond her instruments and singing voice as she constantly made the crowd laugh and actively engaged with members of the audience, answering questions posed and prefacing songs with meanings or calls to action. These prefaces typically framed song topics before the first note ever rang out. Her song topics varied wildly: From current and passionate love, to the emotional fallout of love lost, to Ozempic, Ernst is very clearly confident and comfortable in imbuing her art with both her emotionally sensitive perspective and a dry, occasionally satirical sense of humor. When her set concluded, half of the crowd immediately flooded to the merch stand and the other half were left stirring as they spoke on the opener’s performance and anticipated Melt’s ascension to the stage.
After Ms. Ernst concluded, it did not take long for Melt to take the stage, and when they did, everyone immediately knew. A building, palpable vibration within the waiting crowd seemed to culminate in a synchronized detonation between the audience and Melt as they leapt onto stage. They opened with their newest single “Find Somebody” an (at the time) only 18 day old track. Their sound was immediately explosive as if the musicians were in nail-biting anticipation just as the audience was. A swirling, chorus-drenched indie pop guitar sound led the bass and drums alongside lead vocalist Veronica Stewart-Frommer’s catchy, vibrant vocals and a disco-informed synth as they transitioned into the Fleetwood Mac-esque “Veronica’s Apology.” From the funky, bass driven “Walk to Midnight,” to the ever smooth and soulful “The Door,” to their electrifying first hit “Sour Candy,” Melt delivered a set indicative of a band that is not only intimately familiar with what they’re good at, but one that is committed to infecting every audience with their passion, confidence and primal desire to jump up and dance.
Melt’s sound borrows from a whole world of different influences, though they themselves identify their primary genres as indie pop, soul and soft rock. Tracks performed such as “Walk to Midnight” bear a bass driven funk-informed verse and an incredibly poppy chorus. Or, the swimming synth-pop track “The Door,” backed by another funk-driven, pulsing bass as well as the horn dominated jazzy-pop track “Waves.” All of these tracks point to Melt’s discography as a mosaic of sound that one must sink into to evaluate as its tightness, constant driving passion and thoughtful lyricism make it easy to get lost in their rich audial worlds.
As mentioned before, the band is an on-stage powerhouse. Once the music began, it never stopped, pausing only between the main set and encore. It became clear that each musician was more talented than the songs that they performed suggested, as once they had an opportunity to break free from each song’s deliberate structure, every band member got a chance to shine with an impromptu, yet exceptional solo. This is where my accomplice DJ Ben felt the band shined the most. Though I loved the instrumentation, what really got me was the vocalist Veronica Stewart-Frommer. On top of being an excellent singer, she constantly pushed her voice to its absolute limits, sustaining notes at maximum projection for lengths that would have made any amateur vocalist in her position immediately pass out upon conclusion. On top of this, she lunged and leapt around the stage in dance and even off the stage, high fiving fans all while singing and smiling like it was nothing to her.
The show concluded in established Melt fashion: with an explosive encore and a final bow that cemented their (in hindsight) wonderfully deliberate larger-than-life stage presence. Though me and DJ Ben headed in with no expectations, we could not stop talking about the performance and music the entire way we walked home. Here’s to the next electrifying performance from Melt in Athens!
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