Music Review: Chris Garneau - Music for Tourists

Brooklinite Chris Garneau’s full-length debut Music for Tourists, took a year and a half to complete and was released in January by Absolutely Kosher. Piano laden and driven by his soft, tender voice, one is instantly overtaken by his fragility and vulnerability.

Song after song resounds with sparse melodies, that when paired with Garneau’s whispering vocals, seem fit for a dream world, his voice taking spectral flight into the air and wavering between a whisper and a breathy staccato. He is commonly compared to Sufjan Stevens and Regina Specktor while the influence of the record's producer, Duncan Sheik, is clear in its unabashed emotional honesty. The album draws the listener in with emotional narratives waxing from despair to what could be considered severely understated light heartedness covering topics such as self doubt, eventual death, and Hamburg Helper.

What first drew my attention to Garneau was the song “Relief,” which recalls a past relationship that unfortunately didn’t work out. The lyrics “I love the way you dance / we can work well out/ don't you miss your chance / the pain will all grow out” tugged at my heart strings and as he goes on to state “I will be the same / I'll be the same
goodnight” my mind couldn’t help but wander into memories of past loves I hadn’t thought of in years. The video, shown on his MySpace page is set at a diner full of lost souls and tyrannies and seems so dissolute that it almost made me want to write lost friends of mine a letter (or at least look up a few while logged on to the stalker friendly site).

The most buzz the album received was from the hidden track, a piano cover of Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars.” Some hate it for taking a favorite and changing it while others love its original spin. I am in the later group, finding that Chris stays faithful to the sparse style of Music for Tourists, making it a lovely way to enjoy a beautiful song in a new way.

However, this sparse style can get in the way when listening to the album as a whole. While alone each song stands as a beautiful creation that sparks emotion, when listened to together Music for Tourists, blends together with similar melodies and Garneau’s minimal vocal range allowing the listener's mind to stray from the things he is singing about to such mundane topics as what to eat for dinner.

For example, on “Black and Blue” Garneau almost induces tears when he evokes a Jeff Buckley tone singing “We hurt the same / the same black and blue / I want to catch my death of cold / cos i'm scared I'm growing old / don't return the love I give/ your still my favourite.” Yet this tear was held back as the emotional floodgates were put back up as the next track began in the same slow and sullen way and I was lulled into a numbness that left me thinking about the project I left unfinished at work.

Article Author: Brewed Fresh

Brewed Fresh lives, laughs, hustles, plays and attempts to survive in New York City. A music and art lover with passion, she freelances on these topics and others.

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