By David DeRocco

Love is a roller coaster. And so is a career as a musician. There’s no better analogy to use to describe both. Just ask Mel Monaco, who has spent the last two years enduring the endless ups, downs, twists and turns in both her love life and her musical career. To say it’s been a wild thrill ride is an understatement – try Leviathan stacked on top of Behemoth with a jarring, bumpy blast of The Comet.  

“I have lived so much in these past two years, it’s actually blown my mind how much has happened,” laughs the Niagara-based singer/songwriter. “It’s been an uphill battle, but I can’t imagine it would be any other way any other time.”

Thankfully, the perpetual motion machine known as Mel Monaco has been channeling the experiences the last two years have thrown her way into her most prolific creative outpouring yet: a new double LP release entitled Falling For The Third Time. The 16 original tracks and four conversation pieces sprinkled strategically between songs read like a diary, chronicling the emotional growth of a young artist on an often tumultuous journey of self-discovery. There is lots of love, loss, heartache, hopefulness  – and ultimately, redemption – to be found woven into the stories told in each song. Monaco admits the cathartic outpouring helped her to both heal from the wounds while maturing as a songwriter. 

“The story of the album is falling for the third time,” explained Mel, who will be playing the songs in their entirety during an intimate album launch party August 19^th at Robertson Hall (a.k.a. The Robbie) in downtown St. Catharines. “Between the last two years and this album coming out in August, it’s just been a roller coaster. Falling in love. Falling out of love. Ultimately falling back in, experiencing the different points of life, the learning curves, maturing, growing up. Discovering the different paths you want to take with your life. That’s what the whole album is about. Finding where I feel best.”

Songs like “Hold Me Back,” “Me/You,” “Sonny to My Cher,” and “Unglued” provide an intimate look into the singer’s mindset during the writing and recording of this ambitious project. In terms of the music, the songs on Falling For The Third Time deliver a tasty variety of flavours and influences, from the soulful slow-burn of “When I Groove” to the upbeat, 50s-inspired bounce of “Your Sorries Fall Short on Me.” Despite the extensive track listing, however, Monaco says there was ample material left over.    

“It’s been two years since I last released an album, and I’ve been writing a lot. But there were more tracks that didn’t even make it. I just wanted to get the music out there. I’m already thinking about the next one but I’m embracing the fact that this one needs to come out first!”

The album release party at Robertson Hall will be the first opportunity for Monaco fans to hear all the new songs, although with its limited capacity demand will no doubt exceed availability. Monaco says she chose the intimate venue for a very specific reason.

“The Robbie has a 70 person capacity which is perfect. I wanted to be able to share the stories and talk about the album. When I say ‘I wrote this song in Sana Monica,’ I want them to be able to hear what I hear, to literally hear the waves in the background.”

Besides being sold on-line at MelMonaco.com and iTunes, the new release will be available at both MindBomb (James Street) and That’s Entertainment. The album release party marks the beginning of a busy six month promo schedule for Monaco, who besides releasing her fifth annual promo calendar will also be hitting the road for tour dates in Muskoka, Toronto, Peterborough and Hamilton.

For tickets and details, visit www.MelMonaco.com.