Lou Black is a Peruvian born, Washington DC based singer/songwriter/producer/video artist/statistician. His 2004 debut album (“City of No Winters”) has been described by the press as “sophisticated global pop” and “one of the best in the singer songwriter genre,” but Lou Black describes his music as “subversive pop songs of social commentary and personal struggle. I have many musical influences, my primary ones being Roy Orbison and the Velvet Underground, but I always like to keep track of what listeners/fans say I remind them of. The list is broad, but there are some frequent references to Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Roy Orbison, Bryan Ferry, Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash, Weezer, Pixies, Billy Idol, Tom Waits, Enrique Bunbury, and Raul Seixas, to name a few.”
Lou is best known for his popular 2004 song “Searching for a Land of Love,” a song that continues to be his most streamed song on Spotify. His 2021 novelty pop single and music video, “Your Superman, You Are Superman,” marked Lou’s return to music following a 10-year hiatus from his avant-garde pop ensemble, The Ash Lovelies. For the past two years, Lou has been working on his new album and a collection of singles for release throughout 2023 and 2024.
“After 18 months of writing, arranging, and studio work, I’m finally ready to release my new album ‘Lovely Ashes from the Broken Hearts.’ This album was part of a special project of mine. I always wanted to write and produce for other voices, so for this album I enlisted a variety of female artists to sing lead on all of the tracks. For me, writing the initial set of female vocal demo tracks was akin playing a new instrument, or going from acoustic to electric guitar. I thrive on creating new art, and always looking for something new to inspire me. This often involves collaborating with a variety of musicians and poets/lyricists. Case in point, a few months ago I finished my first transnational musical collaboration with Gabriel Botri (a musician living in Ecuador) which resulted in what can best be described as noise pop meets industrial rock, with lunch served by Alan Watts. A bit different from my typical Lou Black material, but something clicked when I heard his instrumentals. The same goes for songs created by my musician friends. At times I have created music videos for them when their music inspired me to assemble provocative visuals. ABCs, Always Be Creating.”
Lou Black (aka Luis Eduardo Schwarz) was born in Lima, Peru, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and was educated in the United States and the United Kingdom (where he received his MSc. from the London School of Economics…the same school that Mick Jagger attended). When he is not writing or producing music, or music videos, Lou’s alter ego is involved in scientific/statistical research and data science activities, the highlight of those activities culminating in a publication in the prestigious journal Science.
