Biography
Rose Melberg occupies a central place among indie pop figures. Starting in 1992, the compact singer and songwriter launched an extended run of notable groups and releases. Sacramento, California, served as the site where Melberg assembled Tiger Trap in 1992 with vocalist and guitarist Angela Loy, bassist Jen Braun, and drummer Heather Dunn. The band delivered two singles, an EP, and a self-titled LP that proved influential before ending operations in December 1993.
Melberg then moved to Portland and formed Go Sailor with Crimpshrine guitarist Paul Curran and Henry's Dress drummer Amy Linton, who later led the Aislers Set. The project yielded three singles and several compilation tracks, later assembled on the collection Go Sailor, before it dissolved. During the same period, Melberg launched the Softies with Jen Sbragia. From 1994 onward the pair issued two singles apiece on K and Slumberland plus three albums on K, among them the essential 1995 LP It's Love and the 2000 release Holiday in Rhode Island.
After issuing Winter Pageant in 1998, Melberg married Mint Records owner Bill Baker and settled in British Columbia, where she played drums for Vancouver indie pop group Gaze. The band completed two acclaimed albums, 1998's Mitsumeru and 1999's Shake the Pounce, before disbanding. Around this time Melberg resumed solo recording, drawing on earlier pieces such as the 1992 track "My Day" from K's international pop underground convention compilation and the 1993 song "Cupid" from a Slumberland split flexi single; the new material appeared together on the 1998 Double Agent Records album Portola.
Once the Softies concluded after Holiday in Rhode Island in 2000, Melberg stepped away from music to raise her son. She reappeared in 2005 for a brief Pacific Northwest tour and an MP3 giveaway on Double Agent that covered Anne Briggs' "The Time Has Come." Taking that message to heart, she released the album Cast Away the Clouds in early 2006, widely viewed as her strongest work. Three years later K issued her second solo full-length, Homemade Ship, in autumn 2009.
Melberg then moved to Portland and formed Go Sailor with Crimpshrine guitarist Paul Curran and Henry's Dress drummer Amy Linton, who later led the Aislers Set. The project yielded three singles and several compilation tracks, later assembled on the collection Go Sailor, before it dissolved. During the same period, Melberg launched the Softies with Jen Sbragia. From 1994 onward the pair issued two singles apiece on K and Slumberland plus three albums on K, among them the essential 1995 LP It's Love and the 2000 release Holiday in Rhode Island.
After issuing Winter Pageant in 1998, Melberg married Mint Records owner Bill Baker and settled in British Columbia, where she played drums for Vancouver indie pop group Gaze. The band completed two acclaimed albums, 1998's Mitsumeru and 1999's Shake the Pounce, before disbanding. Around this time Melberg resumed solo recording, drawing on earlier pieces such as the 1992 track "My Day" from K's international pop underground convention compilation and the 1993 song "Cupid" from a Slumberland split flexi single; the new material appeared together on the 1998 Double Agent Records album Portola.
Once the Softies concluded after Holiday in Rhode Island in 2000, Melberg stepped away from music to raise her son. She reappeared in 2005 for a brief Pacific Northwest tour and an MP3 giveaway on Double Agent that covered Anne Briggs' "The Time Has Come." Taking that message to heart, she released the album Cast Away the Clouds in early 2006, widely viewed as her strongest work. Three years later K issued her second solo full-length, Homemade Ship, in autumn 2009.
Albums
Singles
