Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Chris Garneau has signed with the Berkeley label Absolutely Kosher and will release his debut full-length, Music For Tourists, on Jan. 23, 2007. He was brought to the label’s attention by Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu. He’ll also be touring in Oct. and will make an appearance at CMJ.
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™.
Music for Tourists brings the listener to an old establishment on the outskirts of the city where the floors creak and the wine flows as freely as the mellifluous tones from his band. Creating a sleepy bal-musette for the new century, Chris Garneau (piano, wurlitzer, and vocals) and his equally adroit musical compatriots, Saul Simon-MacWilliams (harmonium, bass, melodica, and backing vocals) and Ben Kalb (cello), draw you into a world of gauzy twilit skylines and moss-covered piers on brackish rivers.
Watch the video for “Relief” here:
http://media.revver.com/broadcast/28227/video.mov/14351
Chris Garneau – Music For Tourists track list:
1.Castle-Time
2.Relief
3.Black & Blue
4.Saturday
5.So Far
6.First Place
7.Hymn
8.Baby’s Romance
9.Not Nice
10.Blue Suede Shoes
11.We Don’t Try
12.Sad News
13.Halloween
14.Between the Bars
TOUR DATES
Fri 10/13 – New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub*
Thu 10/19 – Pottstown, PA @ North End Firehall*
Sat 10/21 – Alfred, NY @ Terra Cotta Coffee House*
Thu 10/26 – St. Louis, MO @ The Ground Floor*
Fri 10/27 – Chicago, IL @ South Union Arts*
Sat 10/28 – Milwaukee, WI @ Hotcakes Gallery*
Wed 11/1 – New York, NY @ R&R (CMJ Ab Kosher Showcase)
Thu 11/16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
*with Gregory & the Hawk
www.myspace.com/chrisgarneau
www.chrisgarneau.com
photos at: