Search - Lisa Mednick :: Semaphore

Though keyboardist Lisa Mednick initially established herself as a supporting musician (with a touring resumé that ranges from Alejandro Escovedo to Michelle Shocked to New Zealand's pop band the Chills), her second album under her own name showcases songcraft that ranks with the most ambitious currently emerging from Austin. From the siren song of the opening "Wrecker" through the sinuous groove of the harmonica-laced "Widow of This World" to the stark simplicity of "Dancing in My Cell," Mednick writes some of the prickliest, most emotionally unsettling material this side of Lucinda Williams. Her vocal lilt in harmony with Alison Young, occasional cowriter Kevin Carroll, or bassist Michael "Cornbread" Traylor belies the music's dark thematic undertow, through songs that evoke life's fragility and finitude. With support from the likes of multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz and cellist John Hagen (on loan from Lyle Lovett's band), Mednick surveys a musical landscape that extends from her Cajun-style accordion on "Sad Louisiana Waltz" to the U2-ish atmospherics of "She Loved You." Mednick mixes her vocals as just another element in the arrangement rather than pushing them to the fore--thus requiring (and rewarding) an even closer listen. --Don McLeese