Takin’ it to the Garde
The Garde Arts Center has ramped up its concert offerings this season, and, music fans, here comes the latest show: Michael McDonald and Marc Cohn sharing the bill on Sunday. McDonald is just coming off the release of his first album of new material in 17 years. (He did, of course, do some cover albums during that time.) A Rolling Stone article about that new album, “Wide Open,” says of McDonald, “It’s undeniably a good time for him to return. The sounds of late-Seventies and early-Eighties pop radio, where McDonald’s voice was inescome capable, have storming back in the work of Daft Punk, the xx, Rhye, Phoenix, Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley, Haim, Justice, LCD Soundsystem and Tobias Jesso Jr.” Some younger artists have been calling on McDonald, with Thundercat inviting him to sing on his album and Solange dueting with him at a music fest. On the well-reviewed “Wide Open,” McDonald lets his husky, bluesy voice loose on songs that meld soul and pop sounds. And, naturally, the tunes are propelled by McDonald’s signature keyboard playing. Here’s hoping he performs some of those new songs alongside hits like “What a Fool Believes,” “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” and “Sweet Freedom” when he plays the Garde. Performing Sunday, too, is the talented Cohn, who had his biggest smash with “Walking in Memphis.” His latest release, 2016’s “Careful What You Dream: Lost Songs and Rareties,” brings together demos that he wrote and recorded more than 25 years ago. Michael McDonald, Marc Cohn, 7 p.m. Sunday, Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London; $58-$88; (860) 444-7373.