Lê Almeida & Melanie Radford: Presented by Sou’wester Arts
Melanie Radford:
As a professional bassist of multiple genres, Melanie has performed and toured across the United States, Europe, Australia, and Brazil, most notably with the 90’s indie rock band Built to Spill as well as her riff-heavy, post-riot grrrl outfit, Blood Lemon. While she became known as the bassist who brought infectious, head-banging energy to these bands, her solo work is a separate and distinctive energy altogether.
Conceptualized while touring extensively and needing to find an undisturbed space for herself, Melanie began writing her solo material as a love letter to the bass guitar, rooted in drone, delicate minimalism, and textural field recordings that were collected in her travels.
Currently working on her solo album, Melanie will be performing at Sou’wester, showcasing a sample of new material and collaborations with her partner, Lê Almeida.
Lê Almeida is the mastermind of an unlikely and noisy indie scene that emerged in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro in the early 2000s. A prolific producer initially labeled as lo-fi, he was called the “Brazilian answer to Robert Pollard” in a report by The Guardian. His sound has incorporated elements of krautrock, free jazz, afrobeat, hip hop and Brazilian music.
Oruã, his main band, was formed in 2016 and from 2018 onwards Lê began to tour, promoting his first albums recorded at Escritório on old cassette tapes. In 2018 Almeida left Brazil for the first time, playing drums with Built to Spill in Chile and with Oruã in Uruguay. He joined Built to Spill in 2018 for the band’s first shows in South America and then traveled between the United States and Europe, performing more than 130 shows with them, half opening with Oruã. He played drums, co-produced, and co-mixed Built to Spill’s latest release, When the Wind Forgets Your Name (2022, Sub Pop Records).