This year, CHRIS GARNEAU embarks on a world tour with the first full-band performances in support of his new album Yours. We last heard from the enigmatic singer-songwriter on his 2013 release “Winter Games”, a deeply personal and nostalgic work written from the frozen pastures and decaying crops of a farm in upstate New York.
Yours is his most realized work to date—we see an artist grappling the reins and forcing us into his line of sight with the urgency of an active volcano. Produced in Lyon with Maxime Vavasseur and Benoit Bel, the album’s varied tones reflect Garneau’s nomadism, expanding his hushed folk with the resonance of psychedelia-fused dream pop; with a sound that is at once rich and gauzy, the album is a stunning collection of songs from a distinctive artist at the peak of his creative forces. Yours is out officially November 2018.
Emily Ritz is a musician and visual artist who creates otherworldly soul music. A native New Yorker, Ritz spent nearly a decade in the Bay Area making art and performing/releasing music with bands Yesway, Honeycomb, and DRMS. Though her music and art remain very much inspired by the lush landscapes of Northern California, Ritz moved back East to Hudson, NY in 2016. There, she began performing under her own name for the first time and recorded her first solo album Pattern Recess.
Over the years Emily has shared the stage with artists such as Deradoorian, Toro Y Moi, Laura Veirs and Mirah, and collaborated with members of My Morning Jacket, Thao With The Get Down Stay Down, and Two Gallants.
Ritz struggles with Lyme-related arthritis, which at times has left her totally disabled. If you listen closely to her songs, you can hear her experience of feeling trapped in her body, while trying to hold on to the hope for a return to health. The darkness and devastation that comes from loss of mobility is certainly felt, yet the overwhelming sensation given off by these songs is one of healing. It’s rare to find an artist through whom the bliss of creation flows so freely.