She's taken some knocks along the way, has Aussie-born, Texas-based singer/ songwriter LISA RICHARDS. Despite spending her formative years surrounded by the beauty of north eastern Australia, Lisa's idyllic life was shattered when a horrific car accident left her classically-trained pianist mother severely brain damaged.
Such a traumatic experience would be enough to send anyone bandy, but later on it was the catalyst in Lisa beginning to create her own music, and - like fellow W&H Aussie fave Perry Keyes - she began by plying her trade in and around Sydney's tough King's Cross area: a stone's throw from the city's red light district, often singing a capella.
A move to New York City and enrolment playing club gigs in staple venues such as The Bitter End, Cafe Sin E and CBGB'S further sharpened Lisa's abilities and since that time - and meeting husband Jeff May and moving to Austin, Texas - she's released three acclaimed, self-released albums.
New record 'Mad Mad Love' again finds Lisa untainted by big label moguls, but recording with a wealth of talent such as producer/ guitarist Tim Bright, drummer Dan Rieser (Norah Jones), bassist Tim Luntzel (Bright Eyes) and Dido's keyboard player John Deley. Pretty impressive stuff, whichever way you slice it.
Despite Richards' Texan base, though, 'Mad Mad Love' doesn't really kowtow to any Americana expectations. It was recorded in various sessions around NYC, Portchester NY and Austin and proffers numerous stylistic handshakes, with loops, beats and textures often as prevalent as slide guitars, wafts of pedal steel and gritty Delta-isms.
And sometimes, this is ideal. Opener 'Bloom' reeks of positivity lyrically ("Bloom like a flower, reachin' for the sun/ waitin' for the chance to see the good in everyone") and weighs in as a memorably confident pop song. Lisa's voice, though, may be a bone of contention for some: while she's clearly hugely talented, she's capable of going from twee and little girly through to fulsome and throaty, sometimes in the space of a song - as she does on 'Bloom'. It can be a little disorienting and when she pushes the girliness a little too hard (as on her fairly redundant cover of Lou Reed's 'Satellite of Love') is can all sound like a Bjork too far.
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Occasionally, too, it can all get a bit too Dido, like on 'Victoria', which tries for "windblown" and "experienced", but ultimately sounds too forced and shoehorned into a pop format. On the other hand, when she does pop and does it well, it can yield real results, like on 'Dance', where producer Billy Masters (Suzanne Vega, Dar Williams) adds lazy, trip-hop beats, wicked Chris Isaak-style guitar and plenty of space for Lisa to open up.
Elsewhere, though, 'Mad Mad Love' sounds utterly divine, not least when Lisa gets down and dirty on tunes like the chokin' harmonica and driving blues-rock of 'Daddy Please' and her fantastic cover of Oscar Brown Jr's 'Rags And Old Iron'. Most of us probably best remember Nina Simone's version of this latter, but Richards stamps her feisty identity on it in no uncertain terms (part Lucinda Williams, part Eartha Kitt) and the strings, piano and N'Awlins funeral drums lift it to heaven with panache to spare.
Crucially, she also keeps quality in reserve for the record's home strait, too. The wracked acoustism of 'Why?' is stripped back and hugely effective, letting Lisa's coffee house roots show, while closing track '4:22' caters for both title and song title. With Jeff May's evocative howls of pedal steel for company, it's another one that flirts with roots-rock, but ultimately it's the tune's self-made sparseness that really scores.
Overall, Lisa Richards is - like Victoria Williams - perhaps something of an acquired taste, and the sheer elasticity of her vocal abilties ensures she may not provide you with an instant appeal. However, like many slow-burning relationships, repeated assignations with 'Mad Mad Love' may well lead to fierce, unbridled passion. It's certainly worth the dalliance to find out.
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