''Geek the Girl'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter

Lisa Germano Lisa Ruth Germano (born June 27, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Indiana. Her album '' Geek the Girl'' (1994) was chosen as a top album of the 1990s by ''Spin'' magazine. She began her career as a violinist ...

. A breakthrough of sorts for her, it was released on October 25, 1994 by 4AD, just six months after the re-release of her previous album, ''

Happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...

''. The album earned Germano the most praise she'd yet received from the press, becoming a critical favorite – including being featured as the 84th best album of the 1990s by the music magazine ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

''.

Recording

Most tracks on ''Geek the Girl'' were recorded at Lisa Germano's home, giving the album an intimate and demo-like feel. Initially, she played all of the instruments on the record, but she then chose to re-mix four of the tracks with the help of

Malcolm Burn Malcolm Burn (born October 4, 1960) is a Canadian-born music producer, recording engineer and musician. Emmylou Harris's ''Red Dirt Girl'', produced by Burn, won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 2001 Grammys. Biography Born in Cornwall, Ontar ...

, and added

Kenny Aronoff Kenny Aronoff (born March 7, 1953) is an American session drummer. Early life Aronoff grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts He developed an interest in music at an early age and gravitated to the drums as "drumming was one hundred percent ene ...

on drums. All of the songs on the album are written by Germano, except for 'Just Geek' and 'Sexy Little Princess', which were co-authored by Malcolm Burn, and 'Cry Wolf', which she wrote with

Jay Joyce John Joseph "Jay" Joyce is an American record producer, songwriter and session musician. In the 1990s, Joyce, with Chris Feinstein and Brad Pemberton, recorded and toured as Iodine and began working as a record producer, working with artists suc ...

. The album was produced by Germano and Malcolm Burn. It was mixed by Burn at Echo Park Studio in

Bloomington, IN Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Monro ...

, and Kenny Aronoff's drum performances were also recorded there. The album was mastered at

Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such no ...

. Assistant

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

were Mark Hood, Pat Keating and Ron Black.

Content

Lisa Germano has said that "''Geek the Girl'' is about this person who's not growing and is real stuck. Most of my records are about people who are stuck but they want to go somewhere else." Throughout the album, Germano uses a Sicilian folk tune called 'Frascilita' as an interlude between songs, as well as for the introduction to the album, on the first track 'My Secret Reason'. She introduced this piece to add some levity to the album, as she thought it "really needed some comic relief." The album deals with some dark subjects, including stalking (in the much-discussed track 'A Psychopath'), media censorship and inherent evil ('My Secret Reason'), and rape ('Cry Wolf'). The song 'A Psychopath', which samples a real 911 call where a woman confronts an intruder in her home, was written about her own experience with a stalker and the feeling of fear and helplessness that came from it. She obtained the 911 call recording from a rape centre (with their permission), after originally encountering it in a documentary about violence. She was initially hesitant to use the recording, thinking it was "too intense", however ultimately decided it was something worth saying. Germano has said that making the song was scary and very upsetting, and that she had trouble sleeping after recording it.

Promotion

A music video for "Cry Wolf" was produced. The song was featured in the movie ''Rain'' and its soundtrack, years later. A promotional-only CD single for "Cry Wolf" was also released, featuring an edited version of the title track, remixed versions of "Cancer of Everything" and "Sexy Little Girl Princess", and the non-album track "The Mirror Is Gone".

Reception

Josef Woodard of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' gave the album an A+ grade, calling it "one of the more haunting and enlightened projects of the year" and "Raw in sound and subject". In her retrospective review, Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote that "

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

''Geek the Girl'', Lisa Germano found the perfect balance of her work's inherent contrasts. ..''Geek the Girl'''s brave whispers hit on more emotional truths than the self-important screams of Germano's mid-'90s, women-in-rock contemporaries."

Legacy

The album was voted the 84th best of the 1990s by music magazine ''

''. The album's title track was voted at number 91 in the same publication's list of the 100 best

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

songs.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, production *

– drums on tracks 3, 9 and 12 *

– drums on tracks 4 and 7,

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

on track 7, guitar on tracks 4 and 9, piano on track 7, production, mixing on tracks 3, 5, 9 and 12 ; Technical * Mark Hood –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

assistance * Pat Keating – engineering assistance * Ron Black – engineering assistance * Greg Calbi – mastering at

* Paul McMenamin at v23 – sleeve art direction * Dominic Davies – sleeve photography

References

External links

*
Geek the Girl
' at 4AD {{Authority control Lisa Germano albums 1994 albums Albums produced by Malcolm Burn 4AD albums