Radio

Brooklyn based singer/songwriter Chris Garneau's second album retains some of the poignant melancholy of his debut augmented with a playfulness in its' melody and arrangements which invokes comparisons with the likes of Surjan Stevens and Gregory and the Hawk. Recorded in New Hampshire surrounded by the simplicity of lake and mountains. A rich harmonium and a wave of strings opens the album in "The Leaving Song". Chris describes loss of life as standing in the desert on a warm spring day. The album's genesis parallels Garneau's perspective as a songwriter as El Radio sees him draw lyrically from sources outside himself and his own experiences to those of other characters, both real and imaginary. Garneau's extensive cast of characters unavoidably comment on the social and political forces that pull us unpredictably through time while rollicking to the rhythms of an organ grinder. "Hands on the Radio" expresses the nostalgia, empathy and embrace for Juarez, Mexico - a border city fraught with the great despair of its infamy, the unsolved murders of hundreds of women, while remaining a rapidly growing metropolis filled with hope. And "Hometown Girls" is an anthem to an American archetype, in which Garneau watches tumbleweeds blow over the lives of girls whom he wishes we loved more. El Radio moves from the sublime retro pop of "Fireflies" to the deceptively upbeat baroque styled "Dirty Night Clowns". Garneau's lyrics shift from violent to whimsical, sweet to sinister through carnival and funeral. Tracks: The Leaving Song / Dirty Night Clowns / Raw and Awake / Hands on the Radio / No More Pirates / Fireflies / Hometown Girls / Over and Over / The Cats & Kids / Lucioles en Mineur / Things She Said / Pirates Reprise