Throughout his career, Chris Garneau has explored a wide breadth of sonic territory. Yours, his previous studio album (2018), was an expansive world of many textures, one that he knew he had to leave behind.

With The Kind, Garneau reigns in his attention, reconnects with his authenticity, and bridges his inner experience with our shared existence. There is a gathering of all the various personas he has embodied throughout his life and a return to the grounded and pared-down composition of his debut album Music For Tourists. Throughout The Kind, Garneau feels his way through layers of shame and grief, of performing other peoples’ projections of who he could or should be. The album evokes a palpable liberation from the impacts of this resistance to being seen. Garneau’s voice traverses tones of release and resilience, singing through questions of belonging and letting go. The Kind has the focused confidence of an artist who has come home to himself. Garneau took a slow and thoughtful approach to crafting these songs over a period of two years, and the result is a body of work which is honest and intentional. Between August of 2018 and August of 2020, Garneau met his creative process with his journey towards healing. The songwriting for this album flowed from a new sense of wholeness rather than any attempt to live up to others’ expectations. These songs eschew abstraction and artifice for a more direct approach to music.

Produced by Patrick Higgins (Zs, Nicolas Jaar, eponymous solo project), the creative partnership between him and Garneau is one of generous attention. Respect was given for the time and space needed for pure artistic expression to emerge. Each song was complete before they entered the studio. Higgins’ production process involved discovering a simplicity of instrumentation, one that results in a cohesive, intimate album that one can imagine hearing in a small performance venue. Higgins himself is a versatile musician who provides extremely attuned percussion, bass and guitar, recorded in the spacious hall of the former church that houses Future-Past Studios, his own recording and production studio. Working together, Higgins captured Garneau’s performance, and resisted the urge to do any excessive production over these preserved moments in time. The effect is warm and dynamic, allowing Garneau’s lyrics to project without hindrance or obscurity.

THE KIND - TRACKLISTING
1. Old Code
2. Not The Child
3. Now On
4. Telephone
5. Cradled
6. For Celeste
7. Won’t Use
8. The Kind
9. Little While
10. So Slow