Release date: April 24, 2020
Altadore’s new record ‘Gardenia’ is Katz’s most impressive album yet. Playing and recording much of it all on his own, with help from masterful producer Graham Barton and engineer Brian Harvey, Katz introduces a new level of intimacy, intention, arrangement, and musicianship. Playing with lyrical themes of contentment, confusion, loss, and love, writing for ‘Gardenia’ started on the heels of Altadore’s 2016 record ‘Opal, Luna, and Hymn’ with “Once in a While”, a subtle nod to a slower 70s Nilsson Sings Newman era. The song is an amalgam of the rest of ‘Gardenia’, laying the framework and palette for Katz to develop the supporting corners of this new world. The upbeat “Noel in the Garden” starts the record off, skipping along to a rather juxtaposing narrative of losing a lifelong partner, told through a balance of carefully arranged symbolism, to-the-point conversation, and Harrison-esque slide guitar. That same guitar bleeds into “Light of Love”, a melancholic ballad centered around the light and love within us all as Katz sings “Know you are the sun / The living light of love”. The descending Elton inspired piano riff fades into “Big Cloud”, a bouncy and imaginative pop song that sings of finding peace in the late hours of nighttime. It’s sure to make fans of Jon Brion and Aimee Mann swoon, with a rubbery guitar solo reminiscent of ELO for good measure. “All That Weight” is a down tempo groover with a left of center charm a la Mac Demarco’s sentimental side. Onward to “Nobody Can Tell”, we hear Katz’s warm acoustic guitar and nostalgic double tracked vocal battle with his own selfish desires when someone close decides to leave. The Elliott Smith level intimacy develops into a laidback Emitt Rhodes rhythm, opening up with a soulful 70s inspired string section over a tasteful guitar solo. Minimal, tender numbers like “Sometimes” spin with only a dusty acoustic and upright piano, painting the picture of one’s own struggles and confessions. We encounter a series of three short vignettes centered around a character named Diane and a taxi in “Ordinary Boy”. The hypnotic melodies carry into ‘Gardenia’s closing track, “The Way It Should Be”, a gentle refrain we hear as horns lift the arrangement up, soon leaving us with only distant sounds and a new mantra to find solace in our own unique story.
Track-listing:
01 Noel in the Garden
02 Light of Love
03 Big Cloud
04 All That Weight
05 Once in a While
06 Nobody Can Tell
07 Sometimes
08 Ordinary Boy
09 The Way It Should Be
Photo by Jess Cassady
Artwork by D.Norsen
*Comes with printed inner sleeve and lyrics
Release date: April 24, 2020
Altadore’s new record ‘Gardenia’ is Katz’s most impressive album yet. Playing and recording much of it all on his own, with help from masterful producer Graham Barton and engineer Brian Harvey, Katz introduces a new level of intimacy, intention, arrangement, and musicianship. Playing with lyrical themes of contentment, confusion, loss, and love, writing for ‘Gardenia’ started on the heels of Altadore’s 2016 record ‘Opal, Luna, and Hymn’ with “Once in a While”, a subtle nod to a slower 70s Nilsson Sings Newman era. The song is an amalgam of the rest of ‘Gardenia’, laying the framework and palette for Katz to develop the supporting corners of this new world. The upbeat “Noel in the Garden” starts the record off, skipping along to a rather juxtaposing narrative of losing a lifelong partner, told through a balance of carefully arranged symbolism, to-the-point conversation, and Harrison-esque slide guitar. That same guitar bleeds into “Light of Love”, a melancholic ballad centered around the light and love within us all as Katz sings “Know you are the sun / The living light of love”. The descending Elton inspired piano riff fades into “Big Cloud”, a bouncy and imaginative pop song that sings of finding peace in the late hours of nighttime. It’s sure to make fans of Jon Brion and Aimee Mann swoon, with a rubbery guitar solo reminiscent of ELO for good measure. “All That Weight” is a down tempo groover with a left of center charm a la Mac Demarco’s sentimental side. Onward to “Nobody Can Tell”, we hear Katz’s warm acoustic guitar and nostalgic double tracked vocal battle with his own selfish desires when someone close decides to leave. The Elliott Smith level intimacy develops into a laidback Emitt Rhodes rhythm, opening up with a soulful 70s inspired string section over a tasteful guitar solo. Minimal, tender numbers like “Sometimes” spin with only a dusty acoustic and upright piano, painting the picture of one’s own struggles and confessions. We encounter a series of three short vignettes centered around a character named Diane and a taxi in “Ordinary Boy”. The hypnotic melodies carry into ‘Gardenia’s closing track, “The Way It Should Be”, a gentle refrain we hear as horns lift the arrangement up, soon leaving us with only distant sounds and a new mantra to find solace in our own unique story.
Track-listing:
01 Noel in the Garden
02 Light of Love
03 Big Cloud
04 All That Weight
05 Once in a While
06 Nobody Can Tell
07 Sometimes
08 Ordinary Boy
09 The Way It Should Be
Photo by Jess Cassady
Artwork by D.Norsen
*Comes with printed inner sleeve and lyrics
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