Melissa Weikart – Crash
Paris-based French-American artist Melissa Weikart returns with new single “Crash” out now via Midnight Special Records.
Mixed by Chris Cohen and mastered by Mike Nolte, the track was written and arranged entirely by Weikart, who delivers a dreamy long-distance ode, a message in a bottle, to connections new and old. “Crash is a love song to friends near and far, the people with whom we traverse the mundane, the extraordinary, and everything in between,” Weikart shares. “Sometimes things get messy, but friendship is offering a couch to crash on, calling each other on our bullshit, and navigating the changing tides, side by side.”
Arriving alongside a Pierre Petit–directed video, the standalone single offers a glimpse into the latest chapter of Weikart’s work, which has long been rooted in bringing her early classical piano training to the rich, experimental song practice heard across her catalog: two EPs and an album as a solo artist, plus one EP and an album with Beatrice Melissa, her electronic duo with acclaimed FA student of jazz and ’70s folk-pop, and a keen lover of improvisation since her time at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Weikart relocated back to France as she began sharing her music more broadly. She’s since drawn attention from outlets including NPR, Beats Per Minute, PopMatters, Our Culture, Radio France (FIP), and France Inter, and earned national recognition in France, where she won the Nancy Jazz Pulsations emerging artist award and the instrumentalist prize at La Défense National Jazz Competition.
Weikart has always conjured the confessional candor of the singer-songwriter in her music, even as she drapes her lyrics across rich, shifting, dreamlike tableaux. The Franco-American musician’s voice and piano navigate personal and emotional terrain with clarity and nuance, forging a rich dialogue between artist and instrument, artist and self, artist and listener. Weikart’s hybrid approach to music-making is inflected by the effortless euphoria of pop, treating audiences to constant wonder and surprise.
Weikart will be performing steadily throughout the summer and fall, playing “Crash” and previewing unreleased material at stages across France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Her run includes a stop at Jazz à la Villette in Paris and a return to Nancy Jazz Pulsations, with additional dates to be announced soonranco-British producer Beatrice M.
Tour Dates
July 11 @ Jazz à Porquerolles – Porquerolles, FR
July 14 @ Fotomaton – Madrid, ES
July 16 @ Rouge – Barcelona, ES
July 18 @ Festival Bombance – Sainte Pazanne, FR
August 29 @ Kinzi Fest – Lasgraisses, FR
September 3 @ Jazz à la Villette – Paris, FR
September 5 @ Extratonal – Rotterdam, NL
September 6 @ Un Peu – Brussels, BE
September 8 @ Eggspace – Antwerp, BE
October 14 @ Nancy Jazz Pulsations – Nancy, FR
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