On his sixth album titled Garden of Ashes, multi-instrumentalist Duke Garwood confronts his inner and outer demons by participating in modern events through music. Singing about how much he detests elitism of musicians who live in their own balloons ignorant to the world surrounding them, Garwood explicitly wonders about his role. The album initiates many questions.
In his interviews, Garwood does not hesitate to give his perspective on difficult political and societal topics. His attitude is that everyone should grow, evolve and change the world around themselves. Although he is full of anger, he manages to subliminate it through music, which is particularly conspicuous on Garden Of Ashes. The album title is the metaphor for the current human state – the midnight in the garden of the good and evil. The ashes are result of degradation and eclipse of axiology.
The angst Garwood expresses is somewhat soft, even consolatory. It seems like the artist has taken a deep breath and created an album that is neither aggressive nor intrusive, rather supported by equanimity and patience. You will never hear him calling himself a blues musician, but the blues is prominent in his work. To label Garden of Ashes would not be respectful to the artist who rejects being a part of certain genre, so I am just going to note that Duke Garwood have it his all. He sounds more authentic than ever before.
The record is sort of a gorgeous apocalyptic love music. The instrumentals are on the highest level, from the first to the very last track. The album opener Coldblooded resembles Mark Lanegan, and even though Garwood is more relaxed in his vocal approach, the interpretation is still affected by tobacco. The calmness of this number is constantly interrupted by latent expressiveness, so it sound more intriguing than any other song on the album.
Blue is beautifully orchestrated and the most touching song with female background vocals. Although most of the songs are downbeat and crystally cold, Heat Us Down offers a more pragmatic message of how to be proactive in society. On the other hand, Sleep is a completely intimate and confessional number. The album is closed by Coldblooded The Return in an apocalyptic tone that serves as a subtext of the whole story. The pinnacle of the apocalyptic music is at its grand finale here.
Maybe this is just a hint that Garwood’s next record is going to go in the similar direction. However, it would be awesome If we didn’t have to wait for it for too long.
