On her latest, Magic Neighbor, Lisa Germano evokes her early-’90s recordings On the Way Down from the Moon Palace and Happiness.
A multitalented musician who plays the violin and the synth among other instruments, Germano opens her album with the fuzzy, dark track “To the Mighty One” and keeps her slow-motion, sleepy soundscapes lush and lyrical. Her poetics live somewhere between a love letter and a suicide note, like on acoustic rocker “Simple,” when she sings, “Bitter and worn out girl/No one feels sorry for you.” Her affection for spooky orchestration is brilliantly displayed on “Suli-Mon,” which features weird manipulated vocals; “Painting the Doors” has Germano collaborating with ambient musician Harold Budd for a dream-pop interlude. The proof is all here: Germano is a musical genius who will always be a step ahead of the next big indie-rock chick—whoever she may be.
