This article was originally published on Respect My Region
The film adaptation rarely lives up to the standard of the book, but every so often, there’s a match. By the same token, most musicians don’t have the privilege to boast a stage presence as entrancing as their studio work. A handful, however, do.
Enter: Melody Prochet.
It’s been over five years since the French singer-songwriter last performed in the United States, so her return for a three-night run at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles felt as right as it did overdue. Fronting her staple project, Melody’s Echo Chamber, she played back-to-back-back dates this past week in a victorious attempt at rectifying her absence.
She had indeed been gone a while, but if you attended either of these shows, you won’t complain if Prochet went missing for another five years. In other words, each performance was richly nourishing in a way that made us forget we were deprived in the first place.
Melody’s Echo Chamber, despite being a studio-oriented venture bolstered largely by production value, remolds into a stage act without a stutter. What doesn’t stand out on record tends to steer her sets, giving them an identity of their own. For instance, Johan Holmegard’s drumming is currently a leading highlight of their concert experience. Whereas percussion isn’t central to Prochet's product as a recording artist, Holmegard is able to fluently deliver her blurry live vocals via the contrasting sharpness of his instrumentation.
Her concerts and records are separate entities that evolved from a common ancestor, so their effect is equally hypnotizing. Prochet’s whimsical aura fuels this hybrid of neo-psychedelia and dream pop, which has enjoyed widening distribution in the past decade but still has her name all over it.
Last year marked the ten-year anniversary since the release of Melody’s Echo Chamber’s self-titled debut album. This was a milestone for the distinctive brand of space rock she spearheaded and it has since become commonplace in the indie circuit. Prochet, having cemented her influence over the past ten years, is now celebrating it by playing her records back to fans all over the world.
After performing in London, Paris and Los Angeles, she’ll play two more shows in New York this weekend before calling it a day. The chances are slim considering she’s sold out every single venue so far, but we still recommend that you try securing tickets for her shows in Brooklyn … after all, we don’t know when Melody's Echo Chamber will be back in the United States.