Album Review: Gabriel Garzón-Montano “Jardín” Is Too Good!
Gabriel Garzón-Montano’s Jardín is exceptional, excellent. great, and. basically, every word you use to equate a pure achievement. The Brooklyn singer is releasing this debut album on January 27, and it is worth the buy. While many are, rightfully, leery to invest their hard-earned cash on an album, especially a debut, Montano has accomplished a rare gem: an album where each song is good.
Montano has been known to be a meticulous artist; approaching his music not only with heart but also analysis. For Montano, it is not just about what music says to the listeners, but also what it says to itself. From his words to instrumentals, he is involved in each aspect of his production with aim to please no one but himself, which his why his musical reflectiveness pleases you. Jardín is like entering the soul of Montano with rhythmic lacings of his every intention, thought, and love letter to the entity that is music. Although I know that I am making this album sound like a serious one, I am trying to elaborate how artful it is,and applaud the intricate effort Montano has made to not just introduce himself to audiences but also impress them. No one can walk away from Jardín, whether they like it or not, and say it is not well-made, which I frankly believe is a more powerful goal. In Jardín, Montano has surpassed the typical labels of “good” or “bad” to one of complete wellness, which is, in essence, what his music/ spirit is about.
Thematically, if music is based in Montano’s soul, then Jardín is its search for cleansing. Combining psychedelia with R&B, funk, Hip Hop, and pop, the album feels like an impressionist painting of the city. By giving these “mainstream” genres a sense of abstraction, you cannot help but feel like someone has drawn the curtain from The Wizard of Oz and shown the machine running things. It is like seeing the electric wires that ignite the city lights; suddenly something that feels natural and common has more meaning to it. Through psychedelia, you can feel every beat was planned with mind-altering meaning that sets the drums and bass to be a pulse for the record. No matter how ethereal Montano makes a piano melody, he needs to have an electric current flowing beneath. Songs like “Trial”, “Cantiga”, and “Lullaby” are his “softest” songs, yet prove his inability to lose energy. He never tires in brightness and sparkled arrangements that show his spirit can only get so down because, by nature, it is up. Tracks like, “Sour Mango” “The Game”, and “Crawl” were made to activate your body and soul and further Montano as artist that makes you feel interesting. He wants you to be more than “good”; he wants you to be fascinating. Overall, Montano is an intelligent artist who knows what rhythm to use to seduce his listener, but it is his voice that will burgeon a musician- flower relationship.
It is hard to describe Montano’s voice without sounding verbally plain in comparison. Not many artists can say their voice was kissed by seduction, itself, to which I am convinced was Montano’s situation. He is more than sultry as he transfers his lyrics to become your flirtatious thoughts. Instead, his passionate wordplay comes off as a true testament to love’s ability to make you crumble. From low to high notes, he uses his vocal range, to show love only rebirths you because it destroys you. Its is as if human beings are caught in a “reincarnation cycle” of sorts, where love can give you so many lives in your one earthly journey. The thought is both beautiful and daunting as Montano lyrically observes this notion, but, again, assures both his instrumentals and vocals remain light enough to be welcoming. Both aspects of this record, meet each other in warmth to make his darker beats still feel like heat from the sun, to which, I say, who does not like the sun? Thus, on January 27, buy Jardín, which means garden in Spanish, for the wealth of petaled rhythms, flowery lyrics, and sweetly scented vocals of Gabriel Garzón-Montano. Click Here To Buy.
