Chris Garneau
The Kind
(The Orchard)
4/5
NYC-based singer-songwriter Chris Garneau’s fifth album The Kind is pretty close to perfect for a cold pandemic day huddled away in your apartment. This album addresses what we try to hide: smothering relentless shame, the strength we can find in darkness, and how we manage to get by.
The album kicks off with “Old Code,” a quiet ballad that’s real and sad. A high point of every song is its lyrics: Garneau uses nothing short of poetry to go alongside songs like “Telephone” that seems to walk a fine line between cold reality and a serrated kind of hellish dream.
Vancouver’s Dan Mangan comes to mind when I listen to this album; while it’s a little more skin and bones than Garneau’s last album, 2018’s Yours, it’s no less impactful.
“We can make it better/I need a little space to breathe,” he sings in “Old Code.”
And that’s exactly what this album gives: space to breathe. Backed up by well-timed percussion and unique, soft but sharp vocals that are compassionately raw and real, the album is a pleasure to listen to on a rainy day.
CORRECTION: We initially incorrectly identified the record label for this release as Absolute Kosher records. We apologize for the mistake.