Melt is the debut solo album and “alternate reality” from Mara Zardoya, the lead singer and songwriter of the Grammy-nominated indie-pop band The Maras. The idea began with a question, which came to Zardoya while isolating in the snowy hills of Upstate New York: “Is love worth the pain?” As if under nature’s spell, Zardoya transformed her winter heartache into a collection of intimate psychedelic ballads, imbued with a touch of gothic romanticism.