Time Capsule: Lisa Germano, Geek the Girl
Between the anthems of the mid-’90s, Germano’s third album traced a quieter, more unsettling education in fear, compliance, and aftermath.
January 3, 2026
58 views
16 minute read
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
456 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
693 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
508 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
406 views
2 minute read
Elephant Talk: Lisa Germano
Singer, multi-instrumentalist and Michael Gira fave Lisa Germano conjures up a seductive blend of painful beauty and wounded sentiments on ninth album "No Elephants".
April 11, 2013
5 views
4 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
393 views
3 minute read
Lisa Germano: No Elephants
Lisa Germano’s spare fragility, her whispery confidentiality, would come off as too precious if she didn’t pay such great attention to the craftsmanship of her writing.
February 9, 2013
4 views
1 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
321 views
10 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
274 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
292 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
301 views
3 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
328 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
398 views
2 minute read
Lisa Germano – Interview
One of America's most unorthodox singer-songwriters and the veteran of eight albums, Lisa Germano talks to Sarah Johnson about her haunting new album 'In the Maybe World'
June 27, 2006
374 views
10 minute read
Don’t Worry, It’s Dark Only for Art’s Sake
Lisa Germano tackles death and life's dramas in song, but has a brighter side too.
April 6, 2006
292 views
3 minute read