Sometimes great things can come from going broke. Like many others in the business, Chris Lynch and Adam Rasmussen, better known as the songwriting duo of Gardens & Villa, came to a fork in the road where it was either go for broke, or give up producing the art they love enough to call it a way of life. Luckily for us, the California group chose the former, packing up their home base in Santa Barbara and moving it to Los Angeles, spiraling deeper in to debt in the process.
Lynch and Rasmussen revamped a warehouse space in LA’s Frogtown neighborhood, naming it Space Command, to produce Gardens & Villa’s upcoming album, Music For Dogs, set for release on August 21 via Secretly Canadian. The group enlisted a stellar rhythm section of drummer Dusty Ineman and bassist Shane McKillop for a lot of the upcoming album, including lead single “Fixations”, streaming above.
The most important recruitment, or at least the most immediately evident, was the enlisting of producer Jacob Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. His presence is dominant on “Fixations” with the echoing vocals and an extra dose of guitar reverb. But don’t be mistaken, Portrait merely guides the band; this is Gardens & Villa at their best, with wonderful, carefully knit arrangements of vocals, synths and guitars.
Music for Dogs is an album that questions, criticizes, and almost even celebrates the atmosphere of producing music in the current age. “Fixations” is a track about finding the grace in the “false bottom,” a concept that many independent musicians find themselves coming to terms with. Rasmussen and Lynch call back and forth during the chorus: “My whole life fixation/See if we can make it underneath the radar”. With Music for Dogs, Gardens & Villa may not be underneath anyone’s radar for long.
Music for Dogs is available for pre-order now. Check out the track list below, as well as Gardens & Villa’s upcoming tour dates.
1. Intro
2. Maximize Results
3. Fixations
4. Everybody
5. Paradise
6. Alone In The City
7. General Research
8. Express
9. Happy Times
10. Jubilee
11. I Already Do
Fri. June 26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Center For The Arts, Eagle Rock [tickets]
Tue. Sept. 15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom [tickets]
Thu. Sept. 17 – Austin, TX @ The Parish [tickets]
Fri. Sept. 18 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada [tickets]
Sat. Sept. 19 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues/Bronze Peacock [tickets]
Sun. Sept. 20 – New Orleans @ Gasa Gasa [tickets]
Tue. Sept. 22 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 [tickets]
Wed. Sept. 23 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle [tickets]
Thu. Sept. 24 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
Fri. Sept. 25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg [tickets]
Sat. Sept. 26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle [tickets]
Tue. Sept. 29 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair [tickets]
Wed. Sept. 30 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB [tickets]
Thu. Oct. 1 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison [tickets]
Fri. Oct. 2 – Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory [tickets]
Sat. Oct. 3 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall [tickets]
Sun. Oct. 4 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry [tickets]
Tue. Oct. 6 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater [tickets]
Wed. Oct. 7 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge [tickets]
Thu. Oct. 8 – Las Vegas, NV @ Bunkhouse Saloon [tickets]
Fri. Oct. 9 – San Diego, CA @ IRENIC [tickets]
