Album Review: Lisa Germano "Magic Neighbor

Lisa Germano

Magic Neighbor

SEMI-OBNOXIOUS

Germano explores melancholy with such single-minded determination that she fetishizes it. The tension between the spare, mostly acoustic, pretty music and the bleak lyrics is so great it’s got to be some kind of achievement. “Bitter and worn out girl, / No one feels sorry for you,” she sings on the anti-single, “Simple.” Indeed. Only the two instrumentals and the abstract “Suli-mon” bear repeated listening. - Raymond Simon