I have interviewed David Garlitz before for the site, and now, I have the pleasure of reviewing his first full-length album, "A Poor Man's Pocket," before it is released on January 14th. As you should know from the previous article on David, he is truly a phenomenal jazz guitarist... and he does all of his music on a classical guitar, which is no easy feat. He also still lives and plays music in Paris, but frequents his homeland of the United States when he can.
"A Poor Man's Pocket" is everything you can expect from Garlitz. You'll hear great guitar matched with perhaps the perfect voice for his style, and you can bet your bottom dollar you'll hear subtle references, clever wordplay, and scattered silliness. For the first time, I got to hear David sing in other languages, all of which I know and understand a little bit less every day, sadly. I really enjoyed the long solo intro to the first track, "Hija Mia,"and assumed it would continue this way until the next track. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it later developed into a full song, which he sang entirely in Spanish. So as not to give everything away, I will say that one of the tracks tactfully switches between French and English, creating a nice, and funny Franglish?... Engrench? I don't know, since I've studied Spanish way more than I have French.
A very nice thing about the album is that it is consistent all the way through. You won't hear 15 different guitars or mixes done by 10 different people. Unfortunately, in today's industry, some people can rush their albums and you can easily pick up on it in the final product. Also, many people try to squeeze too much into each song and extend them to sometimes 6+ minutes. I'm glad to say that this didn't happen in "A Poor Man's Pocket." Most songs seemed to be under or around 4 minutes and they only have 3-4 tracks--one for the main vocals, another for the guitar, and perhaps another for some guitar slaps or harmony--with no doubling, all of which is great for acoustic music.
Finally, I will say that some of the songs really remind me of that light, happy feeling portrayed in many Pixar short films, and I could easily hear David being featured in one of them... if he is even interested in writing music for movies.
I enjoyed hearing "A Poor Man's Pocket," and it is very good for a first album, speaking as one who produced somebody else's not-too-consistent first album when I first started in the field of recording. I have heard David play with other people before, and would love to hear a full band album in the future, with either all new material or some full band arrangements of his favorite songs.
You can find out more about David Garlitz on his website at www.davidgarlitz.com.
The album is also available on itunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/
Be sure to also check out what's going on at www.natecombsmedia.com!
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