Press Highlights
“a searching work of elemental folk minimalism… 7.0” Pitchfork
“‘I know what it feels like, I know what you feel like,’ Melissa Ann Sweat repeats over an ethereal piano melody, evoking a sense of intimate empathy that I haven’t really felt before.″ UPROXX
“Her thoughtful, almost existentialist lyrics and intimate confessions are sung in a lovely mezzo-soprano that is alternately delicate and commanding. Combined with her uniquely elegant, powerful, yet winsome playing on piano/keys, makes for a listening experience that is at once movingly heartfelt while at the same time mysterious and filled with artful grandeur.” The Big Takeover
“Lady Lazarus materializes and rises again with a message to guide those trapped in the shadow realm of endless night to find that faint glimmer and promise of daylight…” Week in Pop
“Lady Lazarus’ ‘I Recall July’ is as relatable as it is personal. The dream-like composition, the humble desperation, and the pained cries for the one that got away are all emotions we can cling to on a rainy afternoon.″ AtWood Magazine
“For her third album, Melissa Ann Sweat, a.k.a. Lady Lazarus, was inspired by her journey in overcoming depression, addiction and moving in a positive direction.” The New York Times
“Melissa Sweat delivers the best album of her career so far.” Consequence of Sound
“8/10″ Magnet Magazine
“an emotional & spiritual reawakening…” AltSounds
“We’re really enjoying ‘Miracles’ and the rest of the tracks from this new session with Lady Lazarus.” daytrotter
“Diffuser is beyond excited to premiere a gorgeous new track from Miracles…” Diffuser.FM
“…there’s an intensity to her performance which echoes that within the music…” Clash
“Grandiose and minimally arranged… an intriguing taste of more to come on Miracles.” Flood Magazine
“…languid and surreal…” NPR
“As Lady Lazarus, California dreamer Melissa Ann Sweat crafts intimate miniatures, mostly for solo voice and piano, then slowly drowns them in oceans of reverb… It’s impossible to decide whether the music is constantly changing or totally still, a strangely placid kind of tension that never fails to draw me in…” Pitchfork
“Sweat introduces her aptitude for creating singular songs, soaring beyond what her previous work foreshadowed.” Consequence
“In choosing the moniker Lady Lazarus for her musical output, Melissa Ann Sweat has ensured that her recorded work be set apart from the mundane.” Interview
“As Lady Lazarus, Melissa Sweat joins a line of female artists including Joan Didion, Cat Power, Sylvia Plath, Fiona Apple and Joni Mitchell, for whom the act of creation is less a hobby and more a lifeline of confession and catharsis. On her recently released sophomore album, All My Love in Half Light, Sweat presents a suite of experimental surrealist pop, both minimal and deep, as haunting as it is enchanting.” LA Weekly
“Hear Lady Lazarus’ beautiful, ‘Wonder, Inc.’, a lovely and chilling cut off Melissa Ann Sweat’s All My Love In Half Light.” SPIN
“In her hauntingly primitive music, bloodless conflicts were waged: between the liquid weightlessness of dream-pop and the earthy tactility of folk, the cloudy drift of Erik Satie and the lightning pulses of Philip Glass. ‘Lapsarian’ the lead track from Lady Lazarus’… All My Love In Half Light, resolves those conflicts in dramatic fashion.” Pitchfork
“…this time she sounds clearer, grander, and more in control of herself and the world she’s creating.“ Beats Per Minute
“Her debut album Mantic was released in 2011 to a flurry of critical acclaim…” Paste
“The minimalistic song structures here and classic instrumentation, together with Sweat’s voice, are what make such imagery palpable. An elegiac quality pervades the work, steeped in the melancholy of a ghost adrift on the marshes of Wuthering Heights…” PopMatters
“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…” Pitchfork
“Her work’s hushed and homemade, ambitious, affecting, and oddly polished in its specificity.” Stereogum
“Like listening to the upcoming James Blake record, Mantic shows the magic that space can create. And Lady Lazarus, whose name likely comes from a Sylvia Plath poem, knows how to use lack of sound to accentuate the actual sounds.” Beats Per Minute
“Fans of shadowy dream-pop will be pleased to discover San Jose’s Lady Lazarus… Her voice is lovely, and nothing is over- or undersold. …she wrings emotional volumes from that endlessly cycling scale. …It makes this moment of uncanny stillness a shelter you want to stay inside. It’s really slight, and more than ample.” Pitchfork
