Tearing Down the Fence Between Lisa Germano and ‘Happiness’
With 1993’s Happiness, Capitol Records tried to sit Lisa Germano on a fence between Americana and alternative. With 1994’s Happiness, 4AD Records dismantled the fence.
February 20, 2023
60 views
11 minute read
Hymns to Uncool or Reconsidering Lisa Germano’s ‘Geek the Girl’
A bold investigation of a woman’s journey through self-A bold investigation of a woman’s journey through self-acceptance, Lisa Germano’s unsettling opus Geek the Girl fell through the cracks of the alternative mainstream in 1994.acceptance, Lisa Germano’s unsettling opus Geek the Girl fell through the cracks of the alternative mainstream in 1994.
July 21, 2021
61 views
9 minute read
Lisa Germano’s “A Psychopath” is an Arrangement of Real-Life Horror
Lisa Germano, in general, doesn’t make music I’d call “scary.” It’s often dark, and she has a particular knack for capturing an eerie atmosphere, but her 1994 album Geek the Girl, from which “A Psychopath” comes, is a diverse array of indie rock in the vein of other 4AD alumni.
October 15, 2019
92 views
4 minute read
Lisa Germano’s ‘Happiness’ Broke Out of the John Mellencamp Roots Rut
If the Capitol debut of Lisa Germano – serving at that point as the violinist for John Mellencamp – found you perhaps longing for something along the lines of her old boss’s Lonesome Jubilee, sorry. Not even hardly.
November 30, 2018
59 views
2 minute read
Lisa Germano: Apathy and the Devil
I think of Germano’s work as in a line with the novels of Jean Rhys or the sculptures of Louise Bourgeois: minutely crafted, beautiful but never fragile, familiar and then unexpectedly sharp.
May 22, 2013
80 views
6 minute read
Remembering How to Feel
An accomplished singer-multi-instrumentalist first spotlighted as a member of John Mellencamp's touring band in the late '80s and early '90s, Lisa Germano has recorded and toured with a diverse legion of rock and pop stars including Eels, David Bowie, Crowded House, Philip Selway (Radiohead) and Giant Sand.
February 28, 2013
44 views
3 minute read
Lisa Germano at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market
Within the first few minutes of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lisa Germano leading me through the Hollywood Farmers' Market, it's crystal clear that she truly loves spending time here.
December 5, 2012
36 views
10 minute read
Words in Edgeways with Lisa Germano
Entering her third decade as a recording artist, Lisa Germano remains as individualistic and untouched by the fickle hand of trend as ever.
January 26, 2010
44 views
7 minute read
Lisa Germano: Magic Neighbor
By now, Lisa Germano is probably more than a little tired of being referred to as the one-time fiddle player for John Mellancamp—especially when she's issued eight distinctive albums of her own.
November 1, 2009
28 views
2 minute read
Lisa Germano’s Dark ‘Magic’
Lyrically sophisticated and texturally daring, Magic Neighbor, the L.A.-based singer-songwriter-violinist's 11th proper album, is a darkly magical and sweetly moving thing. And while hyping her considerable gifts is low on her list of priorities, she's got a lot to proclaim.
August 1, 2009
38 views
5 minute read
Lisa Germano’s Chamber Pop Ponders the Void
While Germano wasn’t exactly obsessed with death while writing her latest album, last year’s In the Maybe World , the inevitability of it was certainly on her mind. What would eventually shape up to be a loose concept album started with—of all things—the passing of her cat, an event which is chronicled in the gorgeously fragile lullaby “Golden Cities”.
January 24, 2007
29 views
3 minute read
Friends in High Places
Singer collaborates with pop music elite
October 20, 2006
7 views
2 minute read
Analyzing Lisa
When Lisa Germano was invited to play in John Mellencamp's band in 1987, she had the chops - but not the coping skills for what she knew she'd encounter touring with a major rock artist."
October 12, 2006
49 views
3 minute read
Music for the Morning After, and Beyond
Musicians often chronicle the anguish, adjustments and small triumphs associated with a relationship's end. But few capture the emotional rawness and suffocating isolation quite as powerfully as "Too Much Space," Lisa Germano's uncommonly sensitive look at the first lonely hours after two people part and the dust begins to settle.
August 24, 2006
42 views
2 minute read
Lisa Germano: In the Maybe World
Now signed to a new label, this newest release sees Germano sounding a little perkier, while also keeping her low-key approach and somewhat twisted world-view.
July 31, 2006
49 views
1 minute read