Melissa Ann Sweat is never without some sort of recorder. She performs as Lady Lazarus, and her song “Sick Child” from the recent album Mantic came to her while on a walk in the woods. “The melody just came to me,” she says. “I often have my cell or my video camera on me, and I’ll record a melody as it comes to me on one of those so I won’t lose it. I did that and then I got home and tried it out on the keyboard. The lyrics just flowed.”
Sweat is an experienced 28-year-old artist who creates poetry and videos, but music is her latest endeavor, and she’ll perform Saturday night at the Allways Lounge.
Sweat is a relative newcomer to music. She touched a keyboard for the first time in 2008, then released her first album, Home Recordings a year later. Her most recent album, Mantic, was released in January of this year. It received positive reviews from both One Thirty BPM and Pitchfork. According to reviewer Brian Howe, “Mantic thrives on the sense of being alone with the last voice in the world. Lots of people use music to try and escape their living rooms, but Lady Lazarus seems more interested in inviting us into hers.”
“I recorded a full demo at home and then I thought, ‘Okay, I am making an album. I guess I should go into a professional studio and get these recorded properly because that is what you do, right?’ says Sweat. “When I was listening to them again, I realized the studio took some of the warmth out of the songs and it took away some of the initial spontaneity from the original. So, I decided to go back to the majority of the home recordings.”
Since October, Lady Lazarus has been playing frequently in Savannah, Georgia, the current home of the California-born singer. This will be Sweat’s second time playing in New Orleans and her last time performing live for a few months. She is taking time off to pursue side projects.
“For Lady Lazarus, I am protective of the sound, but the other part of me is totally open to crazy side projects and fun things,” she says. “The Grave Space record label asked me to be part of a charity subscriptions series that people can start signing up for later this year. It is going to come out next year. Shoo Shoo and Mike Watt, the Minutemen, The Black Heart Procession and a lot of other nice, wonderful musicians will be part of it. I’m already starting to write a new song for that, so that’s something I’m excited about.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX7TmVrcG4Q[/youtube]
Tickets for this Saturday’s 10 p.m. performance at the Allways Lounge can be purchased at the box office on location one hour prior to the show.
