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Despite having talent to burn and a unique artistic vision, alt-torch US singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lisa Germano has had a rough ride from the music industry.
After a string of critically acclaimed but under-promoted albums during the 1990s, she withdrew into obscurity, eventually re-emerging in 2006 with In the Maybe World on Michael Gira’s Young God label. Its successor is both a more accessible record and a return to form, once again shot through with her trademark chiaroscuro of emotions.
As one of her biggest celebrity fans, Gira is also very articulate about what makes her music special. “You get the feeling you’re walking through her dreams as you listen,” he’s observed. “The intensity of feeling in her singing is a little frightening at times.”
On Magic Neighbor, Germano accompanies her conversational/confessional murmur with her own violin, piano and guitar, plus sparing and inspired use of electronic effects. The only other musicians involved are Greg Leisz, who contributes the odd twinge of pedal steel, and Sebastian Steinberg, whose acoustic bass is the most novel contribution to the lovely arrangements.
At 33 minutes, it’s almost a mini-album, but less really is more in Germano’s case.
She has a tendency to occasionally mar the prettiness of her music, such as the way unsettling percussion invades A Million Times, or the subtle use of dissonance, as on Suli-Mon, which suggests a cat skipping across her keyboard. The music box waltz of Kitty Train is the other track that reprises the feline references of her 1996 album Excerpts From a Love Circus, and one of three delicate instrumental interludes.
Painting the Doors has an abstract, watery ambience that gives away the involvement of erstwhile Eno collaborator Harold Budd. And The Prince of Plati is another key track for its existential yearning (“Oh, can’t we be happy / Just, just for today”) and a nagging melody that comes close to Snow and the closing, unresolved melancholy of Cocoon for its sheer, swooning beauty.
Given the pervading autumnal mood of Magic Neighbor, the timing of its release couldn’t be more fitting. --Jon Lusk
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
One of those artists I have heard of on a regular basis but never actually heard anything by I was drawn to the latest by Lisa Germano album by two things .One is the lovely artwork ( By Dean Buchanan ) and the other the fact it is released on the "Young God " label run by Michael Gira -ex of the magnificent Swans. There would have been a third but I wasn't aware that she collaborates with Harold Budd ( at least on one song "Painting The Doors ) till I actually owned the album proper.
Her songs are on the surface deceptively straightforward affairs but are actually far more complex than they first appear. They revel in unusual harmonic progressions, eschew usual the usual verse/chorus/verse structure and take unusual minor/major chord shifts. I do not wish to come over all muso here, mostly because I would be out of my depth ,but there is something quite refreshing and fascinating about Lisa Germano,s approach to song writing .
But here is where I take a slightly recalcitrant turn. I don't feel it always works. Some of the songs are delightful- the chiming instrumental "Marypan " , "The Mighty One ", the spellbinding guitar led "Simple " , "A Million Times ", "The regretful pillowy ballad "Snow " "The Prince of Plati" is a gorgeous piano ballad filled with tender and rueful sentiments between individuals - but occasionally the songs are too obtuse or just plain kooky. "Suli-Mon" has a nice central piano melody but disintegrates over it,s three minutes to a discordant mess. The title track is pleasant enough but remains cocooned ...never develops which appropriately enough is also true of Cocoon. . Funnily enough the one song I was expecting magic off- "Painting The Doors "- is too diaphanous ..a mere wisp of a song.
So while I thoroughly admire Lisa Germano for how she tackles her craft her songs are often difficult things to get a handle on. They come at the listener from deceptive angles and oblique reference points. Some of them this listener saw in their full glory, others slipped by just on the periphery of my vision. Entirely my fault I feel this lack of empathy . "I love how you see things " she sings on "Snow ". Lisa Germano certainly see's things differently and I feel slightly annoyed and inadequate that we weren't always on the same wavelength . Or as neighbours we are merely on a nodding level .
Her songs are on the surface deceptively straightforward affairs but are actually far more complex than they first appear. They revel in unusual harmonic progressions, eschew usual the usual verse/chorus/verse structure and take unusual minor/major chord shifts. I do not wish to come over all muso here, mostly because I would be out of my depth ,but there is something quite refreshing and fascinating about Lisa Germano,s approach to song writing .
But here is where I take a slightly recalcitrant turn. I don't feel it always works. Some of the songs are delightful- the chiming instrumental "Marypan " , "The Mighty One ", the spellbinding guitar led "Simple " , "A Million Times ", "The regretful pillowy ballad "Snow " "The Prince of Plati" is a gorgeous piano ballad filled with tender and rueful sentiments between individuals - but occasionally the songs are too obtuse or just plain kooky. "Suli-Mon" has a nice central piano melody but disintegrates over it,s three minutes to a discordant mess. The title track is pleasant enough but remains cocooned ...never develops which appropriately enough is also true of Cocoon. . Funnily enough the one song I was expecting magic off- "Painting The Doors "- is too diaphanous ..a mere wisp of a song.
So while I thoroughly admire Lisa Germano for how she tackles her craft her songs are often difficult things to get a handle on. They come at the listener from deceptive angles and oblique reference points. Some of them this listener saw in their full glory, others slipped by just on the periphery of my vision. Entirely my fault I feel this lack of empathy . "I love how you see things " she sings on "Snow ". Lisa Germano certainly see's things differently and I feel slightly annoyed and inadequate that we weren't always on the same wavelength . Or as neighbours we are merely on a nodding level .
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Everything we've come to expect from Germano and more
3 Oct 2009
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Lisa Germano is an incredibly interesting and rich songwriter. Her songs typically feature a subtle complexity underlying a surface simplicity. Either would be attractive, but the paradoxical combination of these two layers is irresistible.
Her songs are often deceptively simple-sounding, but don't be fooled. Her interesting and unusual harmonic progressions...her tendency to eschew the verse-chorus song structure that characterizes almost all popular music in favor of a more organic melodic development...her sudden (but entirely logical) shifts from major to minor mode (or other modes entirely) and vice versa...her astonishingly personal lyrics (delivered in that breathy voice)...there is simply no other musician like her today, not that I know of anyway. Her songs are often simultaneously unbearably wistful and ineffably comforting...it's often difficult to decide while listening whether it's the saddest or the happiest music you've ever heard---because it's actually both.
Magic neighbor features all this and everything else we've come to expect from Lisa Germano (including plenty of kitty-inspired goodness!). The stand-out track is "a million times" but there are a lot of very strong competitors. The only song that I don't absolutely love is "painting the doors" which is just a bit too psychedelic for my personal tastes (incidentally, it's the only song that Germano didn't write by herself)---and even it has enough interesting stuff going on musically to make it somewhat enjoyable to listen to.
All in all, Magic neighbor is easily my favorite album of 2009 so far. I've been listening to it again and again ever since I got it, repeating it over and over for days on end---something I haven't done since I was a kid. It's been a long time since I've anticipated an album this much and it turned out to be worth the wait.
Her songs are often deceptively simple-sounding, but don't be fooled. Her interesting and unusual harmonic progressions...her tendency to eschew the verse-chorus song structure that characterizes almost all popular music in favor of a more organic melodic development...her sudden (but entirely logical) shifts from major to minor mode (or other modes entirely) and vice versa...her astonishingly personal lyrics (delivered in that breathy voice)...there is simply no other musician like her today, not that I know of anyway. Her songs are often simultaneously unbearably wistful and ineffably comforting...it's often difficult to decide while listening whether it's the saddest or the happiest music you've ever heard---because it's actually both.
Magic neighbor features all this and everything else we've come to expect from Lisa Germano (including plenty of kitty-inspired goodness!). The stand-out track is "a million times" but there are a lot of very strong competitors. The only song that I don't absolutely love is "painting the doors" which is just a bit too psychedelic for my personal tastes (incidentally, it's the only song that Germano didn't write by herself)---and even it has enough interesting stuff going on musically to make it somewhat enjoyable to listen to.
All in all, Magic neighbor is easily my favorite album of 2009 so far. I've been listening to it again and again ever since I got it, repeating it over and over for days on end---something I haven't done since I was a kid. It's been a long time since I've anticipated an album this much and it turned out to be worth the wait.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Criminally Under-rated
6 Nov 2009
Format:Audio CD
How is it even possible this album does not have more reviews up already? Lisa Germano, for those familiar with her music, is a talent impossible to ignore. She is what I would easily describe as a musical genius - the real deal. Unfortunately that does not always equate to being a top seller. This album is worth every penny and if you are sitting on the fence about getting it and are already a fan you owe it to yourself (and to her) to get this album - which shows off her skills in top form, and then the music (the most important thing) can be enjoyed. 'Magic Neighbor' deserves to be heard.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
great pop for adults, seriously
6 April 2012
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Like the other reviewers, I also love this album. But, uh, people, it's not nice and pretty, though as always there certainly are beautiful songs. Magic Neighbor is basically a dissonant, desperate concept album about a little girl's neighbor who tortures and kills animals (or is he just a hunter and taxidermist?) and how this affects her life. One of the most disturbing things I've heard, more so than Germano's "Geek the Girl" (with its song based on real tape of a 911 call from a woman being attacked). Nobody today writes "pop" music like this, nobody, dealing with real stuff with sensitivity, adult thought, and masterful musicality, not juvenile rage (a la Skinny Puppy) or gloom (good metal). Maybe her best, along with the previous In the Maybe World (about death). Not light fare, clearly, but never tediously weighty either. Unique and uniquely honest. Thank God somebody's making exciting music for adults. And thank God that a few people like Michael Gira are around to recognize and publish it.
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