Chris Garneau @ Southpaw: Love Zombie

With a somber yet whimsical, fervent yet delicate debut LP, it was an easy choice for me to place Chris Garneau's Music For Tourists amongst my fave records of the year (view the full list here). Whereas the last time I saw Chris, he focused on the aforementioned full-length, he chose to highlight his latest EP, C-Sides, at his Southpaw debut last evening.

Chris opened the show with a trio of solo tunes on his piano and squeezebox (see above photo) before accompanying his full band for the remainder of the set. About halfway through his performance, Chris brought out (overly buzz-worthy) Jenny Owen Youngs for a glorious collaboration. In keeping with the winter spirit, Chris treated us to his lone holiday track, 'It's Almost Christmas', to close the awe-inspiring set. He also assured us that he's currently working on a Hanukkah tune, which he plans to premiere by December of 2008. Mazel tov! All in all, the gig was immensely gorgeous and positively charming.

Learn more about Chris Garneau here at his official site or over at his MySpace page.

MP3: Chris Garneau - The Island Song [alt link]