Lisa Germano has performed with an incredible roster of musicians (John Mellencamp, Simple Minds, Sheryl Crow), yet none of that could prepare you for her solo albums. Even when it seemingly isn’t, her music comes across as intensely personal. Her instincts either avoid or ignore the commercial music world’s expectations and mine their own path to truth and glory. 2009’s Magic Neighbor is a piano-based collection that has a child-like innocence and a grown-up’s sense of unease doing battle within the same tunes. “To the Mighty One” feels like an emotional seesaw with instruments battling against the natural rhythm. “Kitty Train” is a graceful instrumental. “The Prince of Plati” suggests roots in show tunes but with a modernist singer-songwriter’s influence. “Snow” practically sounds like it’s being made up in the moment, with notes being discovered as Germano sings from her personal journals. “Cocoon” ends things on what sounds like a hopeful, if unfinished, note. The song ends just as the listener is being lulled by its effortless flow.