Lisa Forkish

By Serena Markstrom

Published: August 8, 2008 12:00AM

Lisa Forkish is only 23 years old, so it's hard to imagine that anything in her young life has been a long time coming.

But she's done many musical laps for her age, having spent years in high school choruses, another patch of time as musical director of Divisi at the University of Oregon. Most recently she worked on a performance degree at Berklee College in Boston.

But now, finally, emphasis for her on finally, she is releasing her first CD of solo material, "Between You and Me." She has moved back to the West Coast from Boston, now living in Portland, and as she says in her opening track, "Twenty-Two," she's ready to "play this game."

Around here, people likely know her best for her years with the UO a cappella group Divisi, which author Mickey Rapkin chose as one of the subjects of his recent book, "Pitch Perfect: The Quest for College A Cappella Glory." Forkish has a large role in the book, commensurate with her large role in poising Divisi for national prominence in the genre, and as Rapkin argues, subculture.

While in Boston Forkish formed an a cappella group of professional women, but it was short lived, she says, because members had other priorities.

Recording and releasing a solo album became one of Forkish's priorities in 2007, when she wrote new songs, then went into production last winter.

She says in an e-mail interview that she has been writing songs since she was 11, but once her band got into the studio in January, it laid down the tracks quickly and it was only about a month before the project was completed.

- The Register Guard

Lisa Forkish paints an image of emotion with her unapologetic delivery and original perspective on inter-personalities. She is an expressive dynamo, whose music is happily theatrical; it divines response from the listener by accessing memories of common experience.

-Nate Dube, Music Producer and Engineer (Godsmack, Susan Tedeschi) (Oct 15, 2008)
- Rear Window Studios

Lisa forkish, a former UO Divisi member and music director, took off to Berklee college of music in boston upon graduating form the group. She studied there for two years and has since launched a solo performing career, along with a debut album of original material! Her music covers a lot of ground, sometimes jazzy or bluesy, a little bit of folk and rock, the sparkle and heart of musical theatre, all infused with emotive lyrics, compelling yet catchy melodies and innovative, haunting harmonic progressions.

She even includes an a cappella arrangement of one of her originals, her voice on all six parts. also worth noting, a couple of the tracks were recorded at bill hare productions -- so this lady is definitely holding onto her aca roots, or at least the producer/engineer connections :) The moral of the story is that if you like divisi, you should definitely check out her solo album "between you and me." It's available on itunes and cd baby: www.cdbaby.com/lisaforkish. Her artist homepage is www.lisaforkish.com I give it two solid w00t's.......let's support our peeps!

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Peter Hollens
http://PeterHollens.com
http://UOontherocks.com - www.rarb.org

"I have been a teacher at the world famous Berklee College of Music for many years...and have heard numerous talented songwriters and performers from all over the world. Lisa Forkish ranks easily in the highest percentage of naturally gifted writers that I've had the pleasure of listening to. This wonderful young woman writes, plays, sings, and thinks like a fine-tuned professional. She most assuredly has the goods to make her mark in the music business. Watch for the name LISA FORKISH."

- Jon Aldrich, Associate Professor of Songwriting, Berklee College of Music
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