“Liu performs with a confident grace that reveals an intuitive command of her instrument, and her versatile picking style ranges from a playful nimbleness to straight-up jamming.”
— Christa Titus/Billboard Magazine
Press Photos
Let me set the scene for you: you are at a friend's house on a summer's afternoon, the usual libations and conversations have been launched, and as you sit, you slowly become aware of the background soundtrack -- hard, fast, clean, yet very lyrical gypsy guitar notes and chords are floating through the room, and you, as a savvy, heard-it-all before music lover, start going through your musical roladex; this MUST be so-and-so, or a digital remix of such and such (pre or post war), or perhaps a new CD from the guitar hermit, the guitarist's guitarist, who only releases new work like hen's teeth. Finally, you have to ask: "Who the hell is THIS? They are fantastic!"
Music that stops a conversation -- we've all had those moments; the first listen to Kind of Blue, for example. It comes from music infused with a special combination of technique, verve, and joy. And once introductions are over, you leave with the songs in your head as if you've known each other forever - which you will.
INTRODUCING... seems to me to be the perfect title for this album by Lisa Liu, even though, technically, this isn't her first recording. Liu has had a good run before this in indie and punk, most notably with her band Magnetic Island. Then Liu discovered the world of gypsy jazz, and what you have here is in one way the end of a journey, and in another the first step of an adventure. You will hear everything she's learned so far, and every place she's headed for sonically.
-Cornelius Eady/Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright