Milk Fed, the debut album by Oakland five-piece Body Double, emerged from a period of intense grief and transition for singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist Candace Lazarou. Her previous group, underground noise rock outfit Mansion, disbanded acrimoniously in 2016, months before the Ghost Ship fire forever changed Bay Area DIY. At the same time, Lazarou also began disentangling herself from long-term relationships both interpersonal and with drugs.
Lazarou withdrew into her bedroom, creating material about intimacy and consent in the arch style of a drag mass attended by Brian Eno and Al Jourgensen. (One discarded band name? Knights in Black Leather.) After being confined to vocals in Mansion, Lazarou savored creative control, indulging in dramatic arrangement and hooks, and then found a collaborator in bassist and cowriter Noah Adams. The band name Body Double sums another prominent theme of unstable identity, while Milk Fed reflects the winking camp of Lazarou’s grand guignol imagery.
Lazarou, also previously of post-punk group Pang, played most of the instruments on Milk Fed herself, recording intermittently at Tunnel Vision studios in downtown Oakland with co-producer Jason Kick beginning in 2017. Chase Kamp of Silver Shadows and Jeff Cook of Mansion drum on the album. Body Double began performing live in 2019 and currently comprises Jascha Ephraim (lead guitar) and Mel Weikart (keyboard) in addition to Kamp, Adams and Lazarou.
