Lia Ices

Lia Ices’s 2008 debut, Necima, was a fine introduction to a mysterious singer and pianist, who took her stage name from a gelato shop in Windsor Terrace—she splits her time between Brooklyn and Vermont—and is coy about her true identity. But her follow-up, Grown Unknown, is a full-blown revelation, the production ante upped exponentially. At her best, Ices has the breathy sultriness of Cat Power and the whimsy of Joanna Newsom, but her singing is often more august and nuanced.