Melanie Baker is a Newcastle-based songwriter whose work sits between loud release and quiet confession. Her songs are built on pounding drums and fuzzy guitars, but it’s the detail in the writing that cuts deepest — unguarded, precise, and often disarmingly funny. Drawing on the grit of ’90s alternative rock, Baker reframes those textures through a contemporary, queer perspective. The results move fluidly between abrasion and tenderness, capturing moments of hurt, relief, and uneasy self-recognition without softening the edges. There’s an instinctive honesty at the core of her music: direct, vulnerable, and unafraid of contradiction. Whether leaning into cathartic noise or pulling back to something fragile and exposed, Baker’s songwriting feels grounded in lived experience, carried by a voice that values emotional truth over polish.