Search - Garrett Pierce :: City of Sand

Garrett Pierce pens songs that peek into that same dark, yet optimistic place that Henry Miller and Leonard Cohen tapped into. His voice seems to soar alongside acoustic ballads or dirgey rock songs with the emotional confidence of someone who has found his path after years of yearning. Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, Garrett spent the last decade in the Bay Area where he delivered two tull-length albums on Crossbill Records. There is no doubt that Garrett is special among the newer generation of songwriters. His dedication toward his craft and his confessional storytelling make him among the great young talents in Northern California right now. His new record, City of Sand, will be released November 6th, 2012 on Narnack Records, and it's his most concise and striking work to date. City of Sand was recorded with the help of producer/musician Eric Ruud, Tim Wright, and others in the January hills of Bennett Valley, a small wooded hamlet just up from Santa Rosa, CA. There is a confidence and calm that occurs in the record that can only have happened in such a place. The greens of those winter mountains helped Garrett and his team assemble songs that perfectly encapsulate the stories that flow through City of Sand. Stories that were inspired by Garrett's real life experiences in the jungles of Guatemala, the streets of San Francisco, and the unending fields of California's flatlands. There will always be juxtaposition in Garrett's work that balances between the sweet and soaring melodic world and his stark biting lyrical commentary. There is purpose to this formula. He wants to draw you in with a radio-friendly tune but challenge you with lyrics that explore that shadowy, hidden side of yourself. City of Sand accomplishes that very goal. The album begins with the catchy number, ''Everybody Breaks,'' a song that bends pop melody into something very different. The album then evolves through several genres trom alt-country, straight-forward rock, and back to minimal folk ballads. We end with a man searching for a lost love after he's taken a plane to the other side of the world. A sojourn from your daily grind, City of Sand is an album that deserves to be devoured whole - lyrics in hand.