Chris Garneau
Chris Garneau's voice lies somewhere between liquid and matter on the scale of all that is and ever was. He is certainly a rare bird. When he's not spending his free time at the town fairs, Chris can be found at his piano, singing haunting strains and playful stanzas, both equally refreshing as amber pints of beer on humid New York summer evenings. His music is uniquely Brooklyn in substance, but in his musical valise he carries souvenirs from Boston, France, and New Jersey, all of which inform his style. With his brow alternating between a doleful furrow and a mischievous arch, Garneau communicates simply and frankly about issues ranging from reverberating sorrow to the fine home cooking of Hamburger Helper™.
In song, "Relief" evokes afternoons of playing on the wooden staircase behind your childhood house: the long grass that grows between the bricks below pushes up through the planks, and you are calling out to a far-away friend. Seeing "Relief" is somewhat different: The music video (directed by Daniel Stessen and Dori Oskowitz, filmed in L.A. in summer 2005) is like a memory pulled from that gloaming of sleep between dreaming and wakefulness. But that memory has been sharpened and placed at an all-night diner, where Chris will serve you a gorgeous song and your two eggs over-easy.
Most of "Music for Tourists" is the bare essentials. Some tracks were recorded live in the studio, others mildly produced with a few simple and organic layers. When all was settled, Garneau emerged with thirteen songs and a hidden fourteenth track--a cover of Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars"--all of them hard-won and beautifully crafted.