Lisa Germano
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I've included a snip from a review about her and a snip from an interview. Violinist Lisa Germano became known for her fluid, gutsy style through her work with John Mellencamp, which is captured on the Big Daddy and Lonesome Jubilee albums. Germano's solo work is much darker and atmospheric than Mellencamp's albums; her 1991 solo debut, On the Way Down from Moon Palace, displayed some promising songwriting along with her acclaimed instrumental prowess. Germano's second album, 1993's Happiness, was even better, but the record didn't sell very well when it was first released on Capitol, prompting her to change record labels in 1994. She signed with 4AD, who released a resequenced and remixed Happiness in the spring of 1994; the new version of the album emphasized her music's underlying dark melancholy, which the original version only hinted at. Later in 1994, she released Geek the Girl, her first album for 4AD, to very positive reviews. Two years later, Germano released Excerpts from a Love Circus. Slide followed in 1998.—Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide "I had a really colourful childhood... but I was a sad person, really upset a lot of the time... I started writing songs when I was seven years old - and I was writing a lot, it was one of my favourite things to do. Then, all of a sudden I just stopped writing and playing the violin... and I made myself very unhappy. I remember always being worried that my dad would die because he smoked. That's funny - I mean, now I smoke. Anyway, when I was about 17 or 18 I got bored with classical music. I was too scared to be a singer, though; I didn't like my voice, I didn't like myself... it wasn't going to work. And then I got married when I was 20, for 8 years. Those were the worst years of my life, because I wasn't playing music." It had to end in divorce. "The problem arose because I started growing away from being weak, and he preferred a dominant role and couldn't handle that. There aren't any hard feelings, and he's one of my best friends now."
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In
my research of this artist, I mostly found references to her dark, morbid,
melancholly, songs. There is very little actually written on the internet
of her violin playing, except that it mirrors the sadness of her other
work. "Her voice is very breathy and gets right inside you, as
does her violin playing."Homepage: http://www.4ad.com
Discography
Solo Albums
Moon Palace 1999
Happiness/Inconsiderate Bitch, 1999, 4AD
Excerpts from a Love Circus, 1999, 4AD
Slide 1998 4AD
Geek the Girl, 1999, 4AD
On the way down from the moon palace 1993 Major Bill and Egg Records
Happiness 1993 1994 Capitol
Inconsiderate Bitch 1994 Malcolm Burn
Geek the Girl 1994 4AD
Cry Wolf 1994
I Love a Snot 1997
