"This song is a work in progress," is what precocious guitarist Melanie Faye wrote under a post of her playing an unfinished song on a bedroom floor. The Nashville-based musician uploaded it to her Instagram in October of 2016, but I saw it for the first time on Thursday when SZA retweeted it onto my timeline. In the video, Faye, who's dressed in a rainbow-striped turtleneck with her afro wrapped in homage to Jimi Hendrix, beautifully shreds the hell out of her original tune.
She leaves enough space and sparks between the melodies to make you latch on to a far-off memory. And in the last ten seconds of the clip, her face morphs into this gritty position and you can tell she knew she nailed the ending. The song carries a familiar and wistful sentiment. I even started humming along and wondered if I'd heard the song before. Her soulful chords zapped my heart.
Admittedly, I teared up because I'm inherently emo AF. But, I caught a lump in my throat because it's also really fucking amazing to see a black girl tearing some shit up on an electric guitar and feeling herself while doing it.
Enjoy loads of Faye's amazing videos on her Instagram. Also, listen to a track she's featured on called, "B Cool" here.