Lady Lazarus, aka Sylvia Plath-nodding San Jose-to-Savannah multi-instrumentalist Melissa Ann Sweat, is self-releasing her debut full-length Mantic next week. Her work’s been compared to Grouper — a general lonesome lone psych thing’s there (at times), but her approach is more along the lines of experimental free-folk Finns like Lau Nau, Kuupuu, and Islaja. Also, rather unexpectedly, the recording technique (especially in the piano) brings to mind Daniel Johnston. Her work’s hushed and homemade, ambitious, affecting, and oddly polished in its specificity. Get a sense of it via this “Sick Child” clip and a couple MP3s.

“Sick Child”:

Lady Lazarus – “Sick Child”

Mantic:

01 “Nazarite Oath”
02 “The Eye in the Eye of the Storm”
03 “Via Elysian Fields: Lake Pontchartrain”
04 “Took in My Diamond Heart”
05 “Fighting Words & Fists”
06 “Half-Life”
07 “Sick Child”
08 “Immortal Youth”
09 “Midnight Music for a Broken Heart Condition”
10 “I Couldn’t Find Me In Anything”
11 “Twilight on a Steinway”
12 “Pearl”
13 “What It’s Like”
14 “Kurosawa’s Dreams and Me”

Mantic is out 1/18 via Lady Lazarus. The first single, “The Eye in the Eye of the Storm,” is out now via Hi-Score. It features the album version b/w a remix by Mickey Mickey Rourke. More on that here. The original:

Lady Lazarus – “The Eye In The Eye Of The Storm”

She’s hitting Southern roads:

01/15 – Atlanta, GA @ Wax n’ Facts
01/19 – Awendaw, SC @ Awendaw Green
01/24 – Savannah, GA @ The Wormhole
01/26 – Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
01/27 – Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall
02/06 – Savannah, GA @ Lulu’s Chocolate Bar
02/18 – Atlanta, GA @ The Drunken Unicorn
02/26 – Savannah, GA @ The Sentient Bean