Gabriel Garzón-Montano’s soul garden
The singer’s debut album experiments with contemporary R&B, avant-garde vocals and classic crooning
In concert
Gabriel Garzón-Montano with JMSN and Alcordo
May 17, 9 p.m. | Alexander Gastown
Tickets and info: $16 at ticketweb.ca
Soul singer Gabriel Garzón-Montano is Brooklyn, N.Y. born, raised and based. The man behind the exceptional debut, Jardín (Stone’s Throw), is the child of Franco-Columbian parents whose love of music of all kinds informs his meticulously-crafted urban sound. The fact that his mother is also a vocalist in the Phillip Glass ensemble likely contributed to the more experimental qualities of his songs.
So did his city. So much so, that it seems entirely appropriate that our interview is often interrupted by the sound of the subway rattling by as he strolls through the Brooklyn neighbourhood known as Dumbo (Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).
Following the release of his debut EP, Bishouné Alma del Huila (Styles Upon Styles, 2014), Drake sampled his song 6.8” on his album If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late (Island, 2015). This was a big bump for the vocalist who had already been handpicked by Lenny Kravitz as tour support for a 23-date European tour.
“It definitely drove-up the listeners and had a major effect of people checking out my music, no doubt,” said Garzón-Montano. “And having people who might not have done that otherwise was great. But a lot went into Jardín, for instance the opening song, Trial, was written in 2012.”
Out on taste-making, hip-hop/ modern funk and soul label Stone’s Throw, the 10-song Jardín has seen the vocalist appear at major music festivals from Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza to Austin City Limits. Crafting his precise and rhythmically dense material in Waterfront Studios in Hudson, N.Y., with producer Henry Hirsch, Garzón-Montano handled the drums, bass, guitar, piano and synthesizers, as well as digital programming and multi-layered vocals. The results on slinky tunes such as Sour Mango or The Game are both danceable and chilled-out.
“I think that those qualities means the music lends itself to a lot of different venues and qualities,” he said. “Getting people moving is always a desire, but so is crafting something you could zone out to. Making beats that have energy, but also adding some of that downtempo, ballad-y stuff is right in my ears.”
Composed primarily on keyboards and voice, Jardín is certain to appeal to fans of the tweaked contemporary R&B of James Blake for its electronic elements and any number of classic late-’60s and ’70s soul crooners, as well as avant-garde vocal experimentalist Theo Bleckmann (who happens to be a close friend of Garzón-Montano’s mother). He clearly aims for emotional response as much as movement.
“A lot of my music is collages; a vocal melody will be written over here, some words over here and they’ll be a groove, but if I have some chords who need a friend, I’ll look through the piles and introduce them,” he said. “So, yeah, a collage that collaborates with its elements.”
The thing about collage composition is that it can be quite hard to bring to the live setting. Over his numerous tours and festival appearances, Garzón-Montano has had ample time to perfect that aspect of his presentation.
“I present as a duo, with me and a drummer,” he said. “Sometimes I’m playing synth-bass and keyboards, and sometimes we’re playing along to the tracks. At its biggest configuration, we had a quartet with tracks.”
Noting that all the material goes over well, he singles out the Prince-tinged Long Ears and handclap-bumps The Game and Keep On Runnin’ as fan faves.