After years of cassettes and CD-R releases, the Maine-based musician Liza Victoria, who records under the name Lisa/Liza, put out her debut album proper, Deserts Of Youth, in 2016. Victoria has an uncanny knack for intense atmospherics — her debut album utilized only her voice and an acoustic guitar, and with her forthcoming sophomore album, Momentary Glance, she opens up her sound. It’s her first electric album, made with her new live band and recorded by Godspeed! You Black Emperor’s Efrim Manuel Menuck at his studio in Montreal. It’s a collection of gently unfurling tracks centered around Victoria’s placid voice and an intoxicating static buzz.

The album’s first single is “The Matador Pt. 2,” a meditative eight minutes of downtuned strumming and world-weary searching that serves as a continuation of a theme she first explored on a song from 2014. “I turned around to see the stars/ It wasn’t where the answers are,” she sings, letting those hanging questions fill up the empty space around her. It’s patient and enveloping, and in comparison to the earlier version of this song, it allows even more room for quiet and shaky contemplation.

Here’s her statement about the album:

Momentary Glance was recorded in the very coldest part of winter. We were told by friends in Montreal that even with the heat all the way up the wind still got through enough cracks in the walls ,that jackets were needed inside their homes. We would walk to the coffee shop with full face gear to keep the wind from freezing our faces. Jonathan wore ski-goggles, and we traded mismatched gloves around (“you can wear them for now, I’ll wear them later”). I remember being concerned for my vocal chords getting too cold and keeping a scarf wrapped around my neck & warm beverages near. The album was recorded in just three days, much to the thanks of Efrim, who persevered in the sound room, kept our spirits light despite the chill. I was fully grieving while I recorded this album. My friends and band mates stayed by my side, they took the trash out of the Airb&b, they let me wake up at all hours of the night to cry, or to feel despair, and never suggested once that it was too much, always believing that we could create, that I could create, despite my state. And that’s what made this record. I am still in disbelief that it is here.

This album was made in the most difficult time of my life to date, if the album represents anything for me, it is finding strength in showing up for your fears, because many days that’s all we can do. During the Fall of 2017, I experienced the loss of a friend due to suicide. I worked on this record in the hours that I had strength to be around people (all songs were previously written before this loss). When I first heard the final mixes, my first thought was that I wished this person could hear it, more than any other person. There is nothing I can say or make to express this heartbreak, but I knew I had to record this record then, just to keep myself playing music and moving forward, and I’m more than grateful for those who care to listen.

Hear “The Matador Pt. 2″ below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Real Estate”
02 “The Matador Pt. 2″
03 “Little Bird”
04 “True Detective”
05 “Tea Kettle”
06 “Black Pines”

TOUR DATES:
11/17 Brooklyn, NY @ Wonders of Nature %
12/06 Vancouver, BC @ Wise Lounge >&
12/07 Seattle, WA @ Barboza >
12/08 Anacortes, WA @ Kennelly Keys >
12/09 Portland, OR @ Turn Turn Turn >
12/11 San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah >$
12/12 Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater >£
12/14 Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole >?
12/15 Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space >?
12/17 Denver, CO @ Hi Dive >?
% w/ Matt Bachmann
> w/ Advance Base
& w/ To Bad Catholics
$ w/ Stephen Steinbrink
£ w/ Little Wings
? w/ Karima Walker

Momentary Glance is out 11/30 via Orindal Records. Pre-order it here.