| Melting in the Dark | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Steve Wynn |
| Cover: | Melting in the Dark.jpg |
| Released: | 1996 |
| Studio: | Fort Apache Studios[1] |
| Genre: | Rock, alternative rock |
| Label: | Zero Hour[2] |
| Producer: | Steve Wynn |
| Prev Title: | Fluorescent |
| Prev Year: | 1994 |
| Next Title: | Sweetness and Light |
| Next Year: | 1997 |
Melting in the Dark is an album by the American musician Steve Wynn, released in 1996.[3] [4] It was recorded with a band consisting of all the members of Come.[5] Wynn supported the album by touring with a backing band that included members of Gutterball, Zuzu's Petals, and Love Tractor.[6]
Shortly before making the record, bassist Sean O'Brien and drummer Arthur Johnson quit Come, making this album's recording sessions the last time the original lineup of Come recorded together.[7] [8] Come was more familiar with Wynn's Dream Syndicate work, which in turn influenced the writing and sound of Melting in the Dark.[9] [10] The musicians rehearsed for a day before recording for four days.[11] [12] "Shelley's Blues, Pt. 2" alludes to Mike Nesmith's "Some of Shelly's Blues".[13]
Trouser Press wrote: "Although something of a return to the Dream Syndicate’s savage guitar-frenzy, the album is flightier, with dry, laconic vocals, jauntily aggressive tempos and a joyous garage-crud vibe that suggests it was a lot of fun to make."[14] The Chicago Tribune called the album "spare, free-swinging rock studded with sharp hooks." The Orlando Sentinel deemed it "tense but not humorless rock."
Rolling Stone noted that "Come's clamor seems out of place next to Wynn's uninspired retrorock drawl."[15] The Calgary Herald concluded that "Wynn remains an unheralded anti-hero, a rocker who's never been a pretender and shoulda been a contender."[16] The Los Angeles Times determined that "it's at the midway point that Wynn's seething tales of bad love catch fire."