artist Melissa Laveaux

Losing the cheque meant to pay for piano lessons at 6 years old eventually
meant that Mélissa Laveaux, a self-taught guitarist and singer-songwriter,
would always lack the discipline to follow structure and traditions in
music. Years spent polishing exotic and eclectic playlists on community
radio help her forge her instinctive approach to music. She's noted for
her distinct percussive bassline fingerstyle guitar technique, a wet
breathy raucous voice and unwonted lyricism. Garnering some attention from
local and national media (CBC, SRC) and music institutions (Ontario
Council of Folk Festivals, Montreal International Jazz festival, Canada
Council for the Arts) with a self-produced debut LP , she is picked up by
French indie label NoFormat through her Myspace in 2007. Known for its
eclectic catalogue (Gonzales, Mamani Keita and Nicolas Repac), the label
sees Laveaux as a smart addition to their limited roster. Their
interpretation of Laveaux's "Camphor and Copper" include two creative
covers (Elliot Smith's « Needle in the hay » and Eartha Kitt's « I Wanna
be Evil ») atop of Laveaux's own repertoire - composed of original pieces
of an impressive maturity and freshness. Her voice, alone, unfurls,
majestic and fragile, profound and sensual, furrowed with deep stirring
under the immediate seduction, almost reworked and rearranged by the
ever-present languages in her life: the fluidity of the English, the
nonchalant syncopation of the Kreyol, and the harmonic sophistication of
the French.

Recording a definite upgrade from her self-produced debut in Toronto and
in France, Mélissa Laveaux’s recently released a disc highly praised by
smitten French critics, while leaving them at a loss as the labels "world
music" and "folk" hardly encompass the realm of musical expression.

Mélissa Laveaux singer-songerwriter-guitarist
MAno standup bass
Seb Lété Drums, percussions