Lisa Desforges

In an amazing flash of vibrant creativity and compelling inspiration, Lisa Desforges has arrived on the indie scene with her debut album Permitted but Not Aloud! Combining a sophisticated compilation of soul-searching lyrics with beautiful, velvety-smooth vocals, heart-cutting poetry, and highly-expressive artwork, Lisa delivers a wide variety of sensual music that both stimulates artistic appetites and challenges traditional ways-of-thinking. Her voice is truly unique and cannot be adequately compared with any other artist. It’s really hard to find one who embodies the diversity which Lisa exemplifies, a diversity that takes the listener on a journey through different landscapes, ambiances and moods. Stylistically, however, her works are reminiscent of the likes of Jewel, Lisa Loeb, Natalie Merchant, Sade and Sarah McLachlan. Her debut album is a work of art born from an up-hill battle to make a life-long dream a reality.

Lisa has been surrounded by diverse music for her entire life. “One of my first vivid memories is of my dad singing and playing his guitar to me. He played guitar in many rock bands, and also could pick a mean banjo expressing his interests in classic rock-n-roll, country, and bluegrass. We had a music room in our basement which served as the local hot-spot for weekend jam sessions between my father and sometimes as many as a dozen friends all with ‘colorful’ personalities.” Lisa’s mother, a faithful fan of the top-10 hits of the 60s and 70s, would regularly spin-up Motown hits from her impressive 45” record collection which numbered well into the several hundreds. Her aunt, a classically-trained operatic vocalist, has performed at many local Massachusetts venues and for our WWII soldiers from the age of 13, and regularly escorted Lisa around the Newport Jazz Festival at an early age. And to add yet another layer of diverse music indoctrination, Lisa’s grandparents immersed her into their ethnic Portuguese Fado music at local church gatherings and bazaars, family occasions, and at home on the radio. It was in this music-rich environment Lisa grew up and discovered her true love of music, songwriting, and artistic self-expression.

Her talents grew as a teenager, and from that time to present, she has sung lead in many bands at an eclectic assortment of local venues from Boston to Providence to New York. At 14 she was asked to be the lead singer in her first band called “Steep Illusion,” and soon thereafter, she began formal voice training at The Voice Studio in Boston with Jeanie Deva. Lisa met several musicians during this time and formed another cover band playing in Boston, Cambridge, and Providence. After recording several demos and venturing into the professional jingle market, Lisa established herself as a local mainstay entering and winning nearly every vocal contest she could find. All throughout this period of time, Lisa had continuously written her own lyrics and melodies saving them for the day when a then-maturing dream could finally become a reality.

Lisa won a trip to New York from a local vocal competition, and although she had visited the city before, this would prove to be a very different experience for her. “I saw a different city than I had ever seen before because this time it was all about the music and not the tourism—and I totally felt at home. From ‘The Bitter End’ on Bleeker Street to ‘CBGB’s’ on The Bowery to ‘The Apollo Theater’ on 125th Street, the musical diversity and creative energy I witnessed sucked me in like a vacuum. I didn’t want to leave, and as a matter of fact, when we were driving out of the city I remember looking back at the skyline and thinking that I would be back here very soon.” And that is exactly what happened. After eight months of saving money, Lisa permanently relocated to the greatest city in the world.

After many challenges, three bands, a myriad of high-profile open mike nights, and two close-calls with major record labels, Lisa found that in order to achieve her dream of creating her album using the mainstream record label method, she would have had to sacrifice her artistic style. The major record labels demanded that she stovepipe her music into one uniform style in order to be recorded. Unsatisfied with the limitations placed on her creative talents and freedoms, she broke out to create her own record label for the release of her debut album. “I found it terribly stifling to have to limit myself to one genre or style of music. As an artist, I relate what I perceive and experience to my audience through my poetry and songs—which is why I’ve always considered myself ultimately to be a storyteller and my songs are the tools I use to tell my stories. The music, arrangement, vocals, genre, and individual instruments all act as the punctuation that sets the proper tone, pace, and mood of each story. It’s through these elements that I accentuate important features and emphasize meaningful subtleties