Description
Home is the eighth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Josh Garrels, independently released on his own label Small Voice Records in April 2015. The album was produced in his fan-funded home studio, which sits in his backyard in Portland, Oregon. While Garrels has traditionally done much of his own production, Home relies more heavily on his collaboration with Brooklyn’s Mason Jar Music, Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper, and David Wilton of A Boy & His Kite. While Home retains Garrels’ eclectic influences in folk music, symphonic orchestration, and sample-based sequencing, the dominant sound of soul music is what sets this album apart from his previous work.
Critically acclaimed Oregon singer/songwriter Josh Garrels’ output just goes from strength to strength and his seventh and latest album, the aptly titled ‘Home’ given Garrels’ commitment to recording within his own four walls, is arguably his best yet. With a fuller sound than ever before, Garrels’ captivatingly poetic lyricism and wistful melodies are given extra power with full band arrangements that add yet another facet to the man’s sound – hopefully resulting in more radio airplay and well-deserved attention for the quietly spoken Portlander. There is an overarching but subtle theme of worship contained within the album’s 11 tracks with the likes of the sublime opener «Born Again», the uplifting «Colors» and the meditative «Always Be» offering up the an intelligent alternative to the plethora of run-of-the-mill modern worship releases that currently flood the market by being unique in terms of style as well as communicating something innately personal about the singer’s relationship with God that also succeeds in chiming with us all. Such is the multi-layered nature of Garrels’ songwriting that, even after a hundred plays, the listener will still find something new and previously unnoticed and the same goes for his intricate arrangements that float from orchestral elements, ambient washes and atmospheric guitars to more upbeat and soulful pieces whilst the exquisite «Home At Last» sounds for all the world like song that should have taken pride and place in the Beach Boys’ seminal ‘Pets Sounds’ album. Special mention must go to Garrels’ vocal performance – much of which is delivered to great effect in a mesmerizing falsetto that helps to take this magnificent and beautiful body of work to height that very few artists can hope reach. [Lins Honeyman, Cross Rhythms, June 2015]
“You can’t go home again” has become conventional wisdom since the 1940 publication of Thomas Wolfe’s novel of the same name. The story goes that once outgrown, there is no returning to the place and ideas of your youth. The effect is ultimately isolating. Home, the newest album by singer-songwriter Josh Garrels, details the necessary journey through life’s unknowns with the return home being one of ultimate redemption: “Who is there at the end of lonesome roads?/ All of us hope there’s a home.” His questions are not met with answers, but instead rich scenes of family, food, and bucolic settings. Garrels describes “a place to rest where wounds get dressed, the table’s full/ The sound of laughter in the halls /Light the fire, gather ’round /Join together, sing it loud /Raise the glass and joyful be /Home at last, one family.” The music of the album is much like the title: deceptively simple and deeply layered. Garrels has always had a multifaceted approach to his acoustic folk sound, often adding samples and rhythmic sequencing to lyrics delivered with rap-like intensity. This album is different. Partly recorded in his backyard home studio in Portland, Oregon, partly with Mason Jar Music in Brooklyn, New York, Home is soul, folk, and blues-rock all rolled together through Garrel’s clear, penetrating vocals. Trombones, trumpets, and strings – there is even a bass clarinet solo – accompany his beautiful falsetto throughout the album. The electric guitar mourns and celebrates alongside the album’s protagonist. Home is a work richly steeped in a musical community that knows itself well; Mason Jar Music and Garrels have worked together on past projects, creating beautiful albums and multi-media projects. Like the hero of Thomas Wolfe’s novel, Garrels takes us on the long, dark journey of becoming. There is sadness here, and sorrow, but the end result? A homecoming far more beautiful, joyful, and hopeful than we could have ever imagined. [Image Journal, April 2015]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/home/973223133)
CD tracklist:
01. Born Again – 4:31
02. Colors – 4:44
03. A Long Way – 4:55
04. Leviathan – 2:30
05. The Arrow – 5:10
06. Heaven’s Knife – 3:22
07. Morning Light – 4:32
08. Always Be – 3:26
09. Home At Last – 2:51
10. At the Table – 4:49
11. Benediction – 4:09
Note: Also released on 12-inch vinyl LP in December 2015. Available at Bandcamp: https://joshgarrels.bandcamp.com/album/home-2
“A Long Way” + “Born Again” (MUSIC VIDEOS)
Home (Album Trailer)
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