Lisa Germano – In The Maybe World

Lisa Germano – In The Maybe World / 2006 Young God / 12 Tracks / http://www.lisagermano.com / http://www.younggodrecords.com / Reviewed 06 June 2006

There is little to grab onto when Lisa Germano starts eir album “In The Maybe World”. The first track, “The Day”, contains a set of vocals and some incidental instruments. What the track quickly does, however, is make something much more compelling and full out of the Spartan start. Each of the tracks that follow continue with this very light instrumentation. Where there may be times where Germano gets more intense, this is only done during the times where it is absolutely needed. Germano is not like the average pop star, burying the levels just to show some skill. Everything is contextualized, and everything is given equal footing. This means that while the album may be something promotes as a Germano record, the other individuals on the disc have major roles on this disc.

Tracks like “Moon in Hell” and “Too Much Space” are not short, but individuals will be shocked at how quickly they, as well as the rest of the album, passes. Germano’s output is solid throughout; it is not only that ey provides a base level of quality for listeners, but that everything on the disc strives to craft an overarching sound for the album. Even when there are different instruments added into the mix (strings and a xylophone in “Moon in Hell”), one gets the idea that “In The Maybe World” is a cohesive disc. Tracks on this disc press on the indie rock genre, but this is not the only place that Germano finds eirself. Songs like “Golden Cities” take listeners back to the songbirds of the twenties, while the instrumentation finds itself in the tempestuous electronic and jazz genres of the seventies.

What someone will get out of this album is that Germano does not sit there quietly and sing into a microphone. The emotional intensity that ey brings to the disc is something that comes from the pit of eir stomach, tracks like “Into Oblivion” show this with the very audible breathing present on the track. In fact, this song is almost the sung version of an orgasm, in that there are moments when the breathing threatens to take over the entirety of Germano’s voice. The fact that there can be an instrumental movement on this album that is just as intense as the vocal songs on “In The Maybe World” in the end of “Into Oblivion” further shows that Germano is not alone on this disc. This is an album to pick up if one is into indie rock in any form.

Top Tracks: Into Oblivion, Too Much Space

Rating: 6.1/10

[JMcQ]