A record made with my friends from Giant Sand and Calexico. Very fun + experimental for us on V2. Available?? Don’t know.
While not a solo album by Lisa Germano, Slush holds in an interesting place within her discography.
Originally formed as a side project between Giant Sand members Joey Burns, John Convertino, and Howe Gelb, OP8’s collaboration with Lisa Germano’s came at the request of 4AD head Ivo Watts-Russell, who at the time, was imagining a monthly set of EPs that would have artists on the label’s roster working with other acts to release three songs, culminating in a year-end compilation. The idea was ultimately scrapped, but Germano had already begun working with OP8 by that point and the group was enjoying the results.
“(Giant Sand’s) manager and my manager got together and found a record deal and got [Thirsty Ear Records] to pay 4AD whatever it cost to do those three songs. And then we went in and did the rest of [Slush] in four days. (Giant Sand) had always had this idea to be OP8, and every time they were OP8, they’d have a guest artist. So even though I started the project by asking them to join me, when we went in to finish the record, we decided that it should be OP8, with Lisa Germano as a guest.”
— Lisa Germano, Magnet Magazine (August, 1998)
After securing a record deal with Thirsty Ear, the group continued to work together and amassed enough songs for a full-length album, with a few of these songs popping up later in Germano’s discovery (an alternative recording of “If I Think of Love” would end up being released on 1998’s Slide).
Slush arrived in early 1997 and became the first and last installment of the OP8 project. Burns and Convertino’s other side project, Calexico, had begun that same year and they decided to devote their energies to it. Gelb continued on with Giant Sand. Germano, meanwhile, pushed forward with her own music, eventually relocating from Indiana to Southern California to begin the recording of Slide.
Released: February 25, 1997
Label: Thirsty Ear
Format: CD
Country: US
Availability: Moderate
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sand | 4:39 |
| 2 | Lost in Space | 4:08 |
| 3 | If I Think of Love | 3:17 |
| 4 | Leather | 6:05 |
| 5 | It’s a Rainbow | 4:09 |
| 6 | OP8 | 4:46 |
| 7 | Cracklin’ Water | 6:31 |
| 8 | Never See it Coming | 4:06 |
| 9 | Tom, Dick & Harry | 4:22 |
| 10 | The Devil Loves L.A. | 4:03 |
| 11 | Round and Round | 6:21 |
Personnel
Musicians:
Lisa Germano: violin, piano, mandolin, vocals
Howe Gelb: guitar, piano, vocals
Joey Burns: bass, cello, guitar, vocals
John Convertino: drums
Produced by OP8 and Lisa Germano
Recorded Wavelab in Tuscon, Arizona
Engineered by Craig Shumacher and Nick Luna
All songs mixed by OP8 except “If I Think of Love,” “Crackin’ Water,” and “Round and Round” which was mixed by Paul Mahern and Lisa Germano at Echo Park Recordings Studio in Bloomington, Indiana.
Mastered by Duncan Stanbury at Master Cutting Room, NYC
“Sand” written by Lee Hazlewood
“Lost in Space” written by Joey Burns
“If I Think of Love,” “It’s a Rainbow,” and “Tom, Dick & Harry” written by Lisa Germano
“Leather,” and “The Devils Loves L.A.” written by Howe Gelb
“OP8” written by Howe Gelb, Joey Burns, and John Convertino
“Never See it Coming” written by Howe Gelb and Joey Burns
“Round and Round” written by Neil Young
Critical Reception
“Emotionally drained, Germano’s cries sitting sweetly on the group’s countrified rasp.”
Q Magazine
“Strikingly beautiful—the sound of your heart melting.”
Select
“Like Captain Beefheart to whom Howe Gelb is the natural heir.”
Sunday Times
“A melancholy monster.”
Vox
The cover reads “OP8 featuring the ilk of Lisa Germano,” and on the surface, Slush is simply a collaboration between Arizona’s Giant Sand (aka OP8) and L.A.-based singer/songwriter (and part-time Eel) Germano. More than just a mostly successful merging of musical minds, the album also serves as a convenient — and accessible — introduction to the sometimes-more-difficult/darker work these artists have done elsewhere, as Giant Sand, Calexico, Howe Gelb solo, and of course, Germano solo. The concept works best when Gelb and Germano, both fine and distinctive singers in their own right, take over the vocal duties. When the more understated Joey Burns (Calexico) sings, however, as on “Lost in Space,” the momentum falters a bit. Fortunately, such instances are rare. Germano’s “If I Think of Love,” for instance, is an especially pretty pop song (and considerably more upbeat than her usual neo-gothic fare), whereas the delirious cover of “Sand,” which opens the recording, is so exquisite as to make up for the occasional dull or listless patch. Germano and Gelb are — or were, at any rate — the ideal postmodern Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra. The dreamy version of Neil Young’s “Round and Round,” which brings things to a close, is also worthy of note. Sadly, Slush turned out to be a one-off project, much like Polly Jean Harvey and John Parish’s Dance Hall at Louse Point, which was released the previous year. And that isn’t as random a comparison as it may seem, since all of these artists (Gelb, Harvey, et al.) have collaborated with each other at one time or another. Well, one can always hope for a reunion of at least some of them.
— Kathleen C. Fennessy, All Music
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