Lisa/Liza

A playful moniker used by the U.S.-based singer/songwriter Liza Victoria Miller, Lisa/Liza is a predominately solo acoustic artist who emerged in the early 2010s. Delivering lyrical, unusually structured songs in an unhurried, hushed, and healing manner, she draws the listener in a little with her folk-infused material, similar to that of <a href="spotify:artist:2ckfYpz65ZueWZa2dB6yXC">Sibylle Baier</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2WvBnOk0Lp8xjzFiIaOTO1">Maxine Funke</a>. Among the personal themes of loss, mental health, social anxiety, illness, and recovery in her songwriting, references to the beauty and minutiae of the natural world and daily life root her compositions in catharsis and hope.

Born in Santiago, Chile to North American parents, Miller was raised by her foster mother in rural Maine. At six years old, she idolized <a href="spotify:artist:5e4Dhzv426EvQe3aDb64jL">Shania Twain</a> and dreamed of being a country star. Her elder brother played guitar, but when he passed away at a tragically early age, Miller -- herself only in her early teens -- vowed to learn the instrument. At the age of 18, while attending a friend's hardcore punk show in a Brooklyn warehouse, she played an impromptu live set. Further gigs followed -- initially at open-mike nights and at billed events in Boston and New York City -- before she moved back to Portland, Maine and began to play live with greater frequency. Playing on the fact that her forename Liza is pronounced "Lisa" she began to perform under the name Lisa/Liza.

With the help of her close friend Tanner Smith, she recorded two lo-fi EPs in 2012. Not only did the sound of March's King, ME lean into country, but -- in comparison to many of Miller's future recordings (which tended to intentionally bury her voice in the mix) -- it placed her vocals front-and-center. October's Ancient Edge was also an outlier in that it contained two experimental instrumental tracks and the raw-sounding "Milk Toast Hero," one of her few recordings to feature drums. The following year she recorded "Homecoming" for Boston's Bedroom Singles, before Peter McLaughlin of <a href="spotify:artist:2BqcB5RweiJS8Fy92ZVi6N">the Milkman's Union</a> and Family Planning produced and mixed 2014's lengthy but pared-down EP The First Museum.

Stark and self-recorded at home, Lisa/Liza's September 2016 debut album, Deserts of Youth, began her lengthy relationship with Chicago's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Orindal+Records%22">Orindal Records</a>. Around this time, she assembled a full band, including Devin Ivy on drums, Jonathan Downs on guitar, and multi-instrumentalist Pete Swegart. They played many East Coast shows over the next few years, including a March 2017 Williamsburg support slot for <a href="spotify:artist:7tzI4rSFTHafjF18ZrNZWx">Jens Lekman</a>. Jarringly, she learned of Tanner Smith's suicide in autumn 2017, just weeks before sessions in Montreal began with her quartet and Smith for Momentary Glance. Although filled with grief, support from Miller's bandmates helped her push forward and complete three days of recording at hotel2tango. Eventually released in November 2018, the album was produced in the main by <a href="spotify:artist:2qtpZJrS0nEgTtd6eiSIYy">Efrim Menuck</a> -- a founding member of <a href="spotify:artist:4svpOyfmQKuWpHLjgy4cdK">Godspeed You! Black Emperor</a> & <a href="spotify:artist:0bRpSBtMd3stO4J6TWclMb">A Silver Mt. Zion</a> -- and was her first to feature electric guitar.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, after a decade living in Portland, Miller moved back to the rural landscape of Wayne, Maine. Just like Deserts of Youth, November 2020's solo acoustic Shelter of a Song was a home-recorded set. The album was mixed by <a href="spotify:artist:3haVJx9TUcufYl1rPyH0iv">Peter Broderick</a> and all funds from its digital pre-sales were donated to charities. Forgotten Sings appeared in September 2021, a self-released, hazy dreamscape of an EP, and the following month saw the release of "Rose Pedals," a one-off single for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mexican+Summer%22">Mexican Summer</a>'s Looking Glass series. July 2022's Songs Bloom EP was a collection of stray tracks from previous sessions, but its release kicked off a return to live performance. Another self-recorded solo acoustic record -- April 2023's carefully curated Breaking and Mending -- focused on themes of illness and recovery and featured added texture from Peter Haerman's pedal steel on "Fight for You." ~ James Wilkinson