Former Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur has announced her first new music release in more than 15 years, an album titled Bass Womb Room: My '90s 4-Track Demos x Field Recordings. The project blends previously unheard material from her early career with newly written pieces, offering a rare, intimate counterpoint to the polished major-label rock she is best known for from her time in two of alternative rock's most prominent 1990s bands.

The record combines unreleased four-track demos the Canadian musician recorded during the 1990s with eight new "interlude" compositions written for an upcoming exhibition of her photography. Auf der Maur has said the original songs were written amid pressure from the major-label music industry on her and her peers to produce glossy, radio-friendly hits, positioning this release as a more personal, unvarnished counterpart to that era of her career.