By Doug Levy
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 11, 1997

A belly full of Tanya Donelly

Photo courtesy Reprise Records Tayna Donelly, alt.rock goddess, heads out on a solo career after stints with Throwing Muses and Belly. Her new album is entitled Love Songs for Underdogs. Photo Courtesy of Reprise Records

Tanya Donelly has basically grown up in the world of music. She started her first band, Throwing Muses, along with half-sister Kristin Hersh, when she was only 16. The band got signed to the seminal British label 4AD early on, and developed a pretty good name for themselves. However, it was really always Kristin's band, and Tanya only got to write two songs per album.

They were always the best two songs, though.

Looking for a stronger creative outlet, Tanya helped old pal Kim Deal start up a little group called The Breeders, but then set out once more, this time to start a band she could her own.

The result was Belly, a group that was at the forefront of the burgeoning alternative rock scene of the early '90s, and a flagship for the cause of women in rock. And Donelly could indeed call Belly her own, as the "All songs by Tanya Donelly" (with the exception the one track with gave co-credit to original member Fred Abong) tag-line on the band's first release Star, could attest to.

Star was an extremely successful album, full of the bubble-gum pop and fantastically evocative lyrics that only Donelly could deliver. The follow-up album, King represented another step forward with an increased musical complexity and a note of melancholy that complemented the pixie-stick rock to impressive emotional effect. Unfortunately, that was it. Sometime following the tour in support of King, Belly dissolved, leaving Donelly to take one more musical leap.

It seems fitting to finally see Tanya's name on the cover of a CD, since it seemed all along like Belly was just a pseudonym she used, a mask she wore to disguise herself as a band. Now she's reached a point where modesty is thrown to the wind and she's willing to step up and take full credit for her creations. But don't expect any kind of real diversion from what you've come to expect from her.

In essence, Love Songs For Underdogs is a third Belly album. After all, when you listen to Tanya's Throwing Muses songs, they sound like Belly tracks, and the same is true now. But that's just because Tanya really was Belly. Like they say (I think): Same game, different name.

A bunch of old friends were recruited to work on some of the new songs, including David Lovering, formerly of the Pixies, and Stacey Jones, formerly of Letters To Cleo, now of Veruca Salt. Bass duties are performed by Tanya's husband, Dean Fisher, who used to be in the Juliana Hatlfield Three and is now a working member of his better half's touring band. Rumor has it that Donelly was even seen performing recently with Emma Anderson of Lush on backup guitar duties. Of course, when you've been touring since your teens and you've been a part of the infamous 4AD family (which included the Pixies, Lush and the Breeders), these are the types of people you're bound to be friends with.

A couple of songs from the new album were released last year on Tanya's solo debut, the Sliding and Diving EP, which was available as an import only, but which held immense promise for what was to come, representing some of her most diverse and catchy songs yet.

Her new single, "Pretty Deep," while not the best song on Love Songs opens the album with a healthy dose of infectious pop and also states quite nicely the nature of Donelly's new tunes. For they are indeed pretty deep, both musically and lyrically, songs you can dance to, sing along to and even (gasp) think about.

But after all, this is Tanya Donelly we're talking about, so it's really nothing new.