Rose Melberg / Portola by Wendy Korwin Double Agent Somehow, I know that if I ever get to meet Rose Melberg, the first thing out of my mouth will be, "Word to your mom." Tactless, perhaps, but embarassingly inevitable. I'll admit to using that phrase with more than a few friends and strangers, but doubt that any of those past opportunities could quite challenge this one in applicability. Rose's mom does, after all, sing with her on the first track of her new album, Portola. Word to that. Portola was released this summer on Double Agent records and is Rose Melberg's first solo album, despite her experience as a guitarist, singer, and drummer in past and current bands like Tiger Trap, The Softies, Go Sailor, and Gaze. Bare for the most part with just vocals and acoustic guitar, this album affirms Rose's status as indie pop's biggest charmer. There's something about Portola. Its sweetness and its innocent nudity and its powder blue cover. Its summerness and Rose's lemonade voice. Its playfulness and spattering of songs that come from diverse backgrounds and still manage to hold together an entire CD. Dissecting Portola yields surprising results. The album contains original songs as well as covers, recorded between 1994 and 1997. Some of the songs have appeared on past Double Agent 7" compilations, but despite their collage-like arrangement, the songs on Portola co-exist happily. "Deep Purple" is the introductory duet Rose sings with her mother, and from there the album quietly unravels. The two middle tracks, "Another Cup of Coffee" and "Stitch" are both songs Rose wrote for Tiger Trap and which stayed unrecorded until now. They especially bring the CD together, being two of, if not the strongest songs on the CD. The following three tracks are covers, The Beatles' "I Will" and The Byrds' "My Heaven, My Sky" and "Mr. Spaceman." The latter two were already recorded by The Three Peeps (Rose and Jen from The Softies; Peter Green from Class) and released on Double Agent 002. In the context of this album though, they fit in freely and show off Rose's own songwriting talents. Her originals rival them with sure-footedness and even superiority, and her melodies do not for a second sink below those of the covers. That's what makes Portola kick some major acoustic ass. Portola is slightly different from some of Rose Melberg's past releases. It lacks the fuzz of the Tiger Trap sound and much of The Softies' sweet harmony. These are songs you can sing in the bathtub or leave on repeat to ensure a good night's sleep. These are songs that make you want Rose Melberg to run for mayor and join you for breakfast one day. Until the very last song. "The Love We Could Have Had" closes the album, brings your trip into the country to a halt, and brings in more noise than the rest of the album combined was able to produce. It were recorded with Dustin Reske in 1994 and seems as though it was thrown on this CD for the sole purpose of messing you up. Reminding you that Rose Melberg rocks, not folks. Word to her mom.

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