Sweet Lizzy Project
There is a rare joyfulness to the Cuban-born Nashville transplants in Sweet Lizzy Project. Twelve years into the band’s career, their spirit seems untainted by the sort of jaded coolness that often accompanies musicians who have been working for so long.
Once a seven-piece, Sweet Lizzy Project has scaled back to four members — singer Lisset Diaz, drummer Ángel Luis Millet, bassist Wilfredo Gatell and guitar player/producer Miguel Comas — for their new album. Objects in Mirrors Are Closer Than They Appear, released in July and full of outsized pop rock with electronic flourishes, is the result of a lot of effort by each of them.
Since relocating to Middle Tennessee from Havana, SLP has maintained a constant schedule of recording and relentless touring, releasing three albums since immigrating and sharing stages with the likes of Heart, Billy Strings and Joan Jett. The four members, freshly rested after a 650-mile drive from Appleton, Wis., were willing to sit down for a Monday morning phone call from Pittsburgh to share their unique story.
Sweet Lizzy Project’s journey to Music City began with a 2017 PBS special called Havana Time Machine. Hosted by Raul Malo of The Mavericks, the program showcased the music of modern-day Cuba, including performances from Sweet Lizzy. Malo, born in Miami to Cuban parents, took notice of the band and encouraged them to look to the United States for new opportunities. Two years later, the members of SLP moved into a house in Nashville, preparing to release a new album on Malo’s label, Mono Mundo Recordings.
“We moved in together in the middle of 2019,” Diaz says, “because we were mostly on tour.”
The big house allowed the band to save money and served as a rehearsal space when they were in Nashville.
“In February of 2020, our record Technicolor came out,” Diaz says, “and then the pandemic happened.”
As with many artists on the road at the time, COVID-19 shut down their touring plans overnight, leaving the band in a foreign city with a new record and no way to play their music live. But having the large rehearsal space and nowhere to go became the mother of invention. Dubbing their shows The Sweet Quarantine Series, SLP was able to promote their record while the whole world practiced social distancing.
“The reason why we started doing that was a mix of things,” says Diaz. “First of all, we were going to go crazy — five of us living together with absolutely nothing to do!”
There was a lot of fear and uncertainty in those early days of the pandemic, Diaz says, and the band members’ families were all in different countries. But bringing their music online helped create a new community. Dubbing their fans The SLP Army, Diaz credits the Lizzy loyal with much of the band’s success.
“It was the best decision we ever made,” says Diaz. “We started creating this online community that is pretty much the reason why we’re here.”
She says fans often still tell her they discovered Sweet Lizzy from the pandemic streaming sessions, which also led to the release of SQS Vol. 1, a collection of their favorite live cover songs from that time.
The sounds of Objects in Mirrors are much more expansive than in their previous releases.
“We evolved in sound in the last few years,” Comas says of the massive sound on the new album. “In my head, I wanted [the production] to be bigger.”
The monumental sound reflects the fact that the band has been playing to arenas for the first time since forming, as the opening act on recent tours.
“It sounds quite cinematic, as if we were telling a story, like a movie,” Diaz explains. “And that’s kind of what we want people to feel when they listen to the record. From the beginning to the end, we’re telling our story as a band.”
Comas says the band’s adopted home was another major theme on Objects in Mirrors. “Nashville has a lot to do with this record too — it’s part of the sound,” he says, explaining how many of the lyrical and musical ideas are reflections on their new city. “So it’s part of the essence of the album.”
“I write most of the lyrics,” says Diaz. “And every song is based on a personal experience, so I remember exactly what I was thinking of when I was writing certain songs.”
She says she finds it easier to write lyrics in English than in Spanish, noting that most of Sweet Lizzy’s musical influences are English speakers. The band was performing in English since forming in Cuba, which — Diaz has said in past interviews — made them outliers in the island’s music scene. “So when music came to me, English was a language that I chose to express myself,” she says. “It felt more organic, actually.”
While Objects is already available on all the normal streaming services, Nashville fans will have their first chance to catch the new album live at Sweet Lizzy Project’s album release show Aug. 24 at 3rd and Lindsley as part of Lightning 100’s Nashville Sunday Night series.
