Chris Garneau

{{short description|American singer-songwriter and musician (born 1982)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Chris Garneau

| image = File:Chris Garneau by Daniel Rampulla.jpg

| caption = Chris Garneau in 2020

| birth_name = Christopher Michael Garneau

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1982|11|5}}

| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, United States

| origin =

| instrument = Vocals
Piano
Guitar
Harmonium

| genre =

| occupation = Singer-songwriter

| years_active = 2006–present

| website = {{URL|www.chrisgarneau.com/}}

}}

Chris Garneau (born November 5, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Since releasing his debut album, Music for Tourists (2006), Garneau has toured throughout the United States, Canada, Brazil, Europe, and Asia.

He has released four more full-length studio albums, El Radio (2009), Winter Games (2013), Yours (2018), and The Kind (2021) as well as two EPs, C-Sides (2007) and Out of Love (2023).

Garneau cites Jeff Buckley, Nina Simone, Nico, and Chan Marshall as influences.{{cite web|date=September 2, 2006|accessdate=June 12, 2007 |url=http://www.queerty.com/queer/the-narcissist-issue/the-narcissist-issue-chris-garneau-20060926.php |title=The Narcissist Issue: Chris Garneau; Hottie Musician With Skills |work=Queerty.com |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070125035311/http://www.queerty.com/queer/the-narcissist-issue/the-narcissist-issue-chris-garneau-20060926.php |archivedate=January 25, 2007 |url-status=dead }} The New Yorker has referred to Garneau's music as "fanciful and ornate compositions haunted with melancholia and a dreamlike innocence; his falsetto voice often dances over staccato piano notes accompanied by sorrowful violin and pastoral cello parts."{{Cite magazine |date=January 28, 2024 |title=Chris Garneau, Hospitality, and Glass Ghost |url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/night-life/chris-garneau-hospitality-and-glass-ghost |magazine=The New Yorker}}

He currently resides in New York's Hudson Valley.{{Cite web |date=October 19, 2023 |title=Premiere: "Out of Love" by Chris Garneau |url=https://coolhunting.com/culture/premiere-out-of-love-by-chris-garneu/}}

Early life

Garneau, a native of Boston, lived with his family in Paris during grade school, and later New Jersey before moving to New York City.{{cite web |last1=Doyle |first1=Ryan |title=The Narcissist Issue: Chris Garneau |url=http://www.queerty.com/queer/the-narcissist-issue/the-narcissist-issue-chris-garneau-20060926.php |website=Queerty |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070125035311/http://www.queerty.com/queer/the-narcissist-issue/the-narcissist-issue-chris-garneau-20060926.php |access-date=January 28, 2024|archive-date=January 25, 2007 }} Garneau discovered a love of music at a young age while learning to play piano. Garneau participated in the Spring Awakening workshops and was cast in the Atlantic Theater Company's Broadway production.{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Kenneth |date=February 22, 2006 |title=Casting Announced for World Premiere Musical Spring Awakening |url=https://playbill.com/article/casting-announced-for-world-premiere-musical-spring-awakening-com-131010}} He opted out of the production to pursue his first record deal. After high school, Garneau briefly attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left after completing one term and moved to Brooklyn. There he began writing music and playing live shows at small venues in the East Village and Lower East Side of Manhattan, including CBGB's Gallery and the Living Room.

Career

= 2006-2008: ''Music for Tourists'' and ''El Radio'' =

Garneau first signed with Absolutely Kosher Records, a California-based record label. He was brought to the label by Jamie Stewart and Caralee McElroy of Xiu Xiu. Garneau released his debut album Music for Tourists in October 2006. The Village Voice described it as "soft, honest, and wholeheartedly intimate."{{Cite web |last=Ayers |first=Michael |date=January 17, 2007 |title=The Village Voice |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/humble-pie-2/}}

The soundtrack to season four of TV's Grey's Anatomy includes Garneau's music. The episode "Love/Addiction" features his song "Castle-Time", and the episode "Forever Young" features the song "Black and Blue".{{Citation

| title = Grey's Anatomy Music From "Forever Young"

| date = November 16, 2007| url = http://www.tvfanatic.com/2007/11/greys-anatomy-music-from-forever-young.html}} The series premiere of Private Practice, "In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl From Somewhere Else", features the song "Sad News".{{Citation

| title = Private Practice Season 1 Episode 2: "In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl From Somewhere Else" Music

| date = September 12, 2007| url = http://www.tvfanatic.com/music/shows/private-practice/episodes/in-which-we-meet-addison-a-nice-girl-from-somewhere.html}}

In December 2007, he released an EP called C-Sides, which includes his cover of Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars". This song was later featured in Pedro Almodóvar's 2011 film The Skin I Live In.{{Cite web |date=September 21, 2022 |title=Between the Bars |url=https://www.last.fm/music/Elliott+Smith/_/Between+the+Bars/+wiki}}

In July 2009, he released his second album El Radio.{{cite web |last1=Murnane |first1=Jamie |title=Chris Garneau Announces Sophmore Album, 'El Radio' |url=https://www.logotv.com/news/mhjttf/chris-garneau-announces-sophomore-album-el-radio |access-date=January 28, 2024 |website=Logo}} The song "Dirty Night Clowns" has over 14 million streams on Spotify. The lyrics speak to how "nightmares from our past still invoke fear, [while] others have become less frightening once we get past our young interpretations."{{Cite web |date=May 3, 2011 |title=Chris Garneau – "Dirty Night Clowns" |url=https://consequence.net/2011/05/chris-garneau-dirty-night-clowns/}}

= 2011-2018: ''Winter Games'' and ''Yours'' =

In 2011, Garneau left Brooklyn and moved upstate to a farm where he served as its caretaker. He lived on 40 acres and raised animals alone.{{Cite web |date=October 24, 2013 |title=Chris Garneau Debuts 'Oh God' and Talks About His New Album and Lady Gaga |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/music-chris-garneau-on-his-new-sound-debuts-song-oh-god-and-talks-about-his-new-album-and-how-lady-gaga-has-influenced-him}}

In 2013, he released his third studio album, Winter Games. He asked friends to write down their first memories of winter. These memories and his move to rural countryside in the winter subsequently informed his writing for the album.{{Cite news |date=December 6, 2013 |title=OMG, a Q&A with Chris Garneau {{!}} !! omg blog !! [the original, since 2003] |url=http://www.omgblog.com/2013/12/omg_a_qa_with_chris_garneau.php/ |access-date=August 3, 2017 |work=!! omg blog !! [the original, since 2003] |language=en-US}} Out described it as "haunting, melancholic, and utterly spell-binding".{{Cite web |date=September 13, 2013 |title=EXCLUSIVE: Chris Garneau Debuts 'Winter Song # 2' |url=https://www.out.com/entertainment/music/2013/09/13/exclusive-chris-garneau-debuts-%E2%80%98winter-song-2%E2%80%99}} Following the release, Garneau toured Europe, China, and North America.{{Cite web |title=hello |url=https://www.chrisgarneau.com/archive |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803171646/https://www.chrisgarneau.com/archive |archive-date=August 3, 2017 |access-date=August 3, 2017 |website=hello}}

In 2017, he premiered five new songs on stage as a quartet in New York City at Joe's Pub.{{Cite web|url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/chris-garneau/2017/joes-pub-new-york-ny-1be41168.html|title=Chris Garneau Setlist at Joe's Pub, New York|website=setlist.fm|access-date=August 3, 2017}} He also scored dance pieces for choreographers such as Jonah Bokaer.{{Cite web |title=Hello |url=https://www.chrisgarneau.com/original-score |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803212711/https://www.chrisgarneau.com/original-score |archive-date=August 3, 2017 |access-date=August 3, 2017}}

In November 2018, he released his fourth studio album Yours.{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Sunni |title=Chris Garneau Returns With A Lush New Sound On 'Yours' |url=https://www.wussymag.com/all/chris-garneau-returns-with-a-lush-new-sound-on-yours |website=Wussy |access-date=January 28, 2024}} After a two-year break from recording and touring, Garneau worked with his friend and bandmate Maxime Vavasseur to create the album.{{Cite magazine |last=Lynch |first=Joe |date=November 5, 2018 |title=Chris Garneau Wants to 'Wake People Up' With Sprawling New Album 'Yours': Premiere |magazine=Billboard |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/chris-garneau-yours-album-8483259/}} He wrote most of the material over the summer of 2016, reflecting on mass incarceration, industrialized slave labor, and mass extinction.

= 2019-2021: ''The Kind'' and ''Out of Love'' =

In January 2021, Garneau released his fifth studio album The Kind. He described the record as an exploration into childhood, queerness, the process of owning one's identity and casting off shame.{{Cite web |date=December 8, 2020 |title=Premiere: Chris Garneau Debuts New Single "For Celeste" |url=https://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/premiere_chris_garneau_debuts_new_single_for_celeste}}

In December 2023, he released a four-song EP called Out of Love. In an interview, he said each of the songs is about a character transformed by love: "Whether it's love for themselves, love for their friends or love for a dangerous man." This was his first collaboration with Marc Briz, a fiction writer and lyricist.