Anthony Garcia is a songwriter, guitarist, and classically trained pianist based in Austin, Texas. His musical style has most accurately been described as “cinematic Americana,” a genre that interweaves songwriting with expanding, quasi-orchestral sections. Versatile is the best word to describe his live performance; Garcia often switches between genres within a set, and sometimes switches between instruments within a single song. A lover of rock, blues, classical piano, and Spanish guitar, and a fan of soulful vocals and old standards, Garcia’s musicianship and eclectic song choices always keep the audience enraptured and inspired.
Garcia’s original music mixes a range of influences: guitar solos reaching back to the guitar hero tradition of Zeppelin and Hendrix; lyrics and songs that pay homage to Townes Van Zandt and Leonard Cohen; and haunting violin inspired by J.S. Bach. Press in Texas has described his music as “mariachi-esque Queens of the Stone Age” and “like something out of a Cormac McCarthy novel,” and proclaimed that his songs seem like the “missing tracks from a Robert Rodriguez soundtrack.” Media in Paris, France dubbed his music “Americana Hypnotique.”
Garcia’s music is indeed hypnotic, melding his early love of guitar-based heavier rock, the classical piano he studied formally in college and after, the modern chill of electronica, and mixing them all with the dusty twang, storytelling, and songwriting aspects of Americana. The result is gorgeously evident on Acres of Diamonds (duo out July 17th), which showcases every aspect and musical love Garcia has in glorious, dreamy, intense combinations, exploring ghosts of people and places past, drifting, lost love and, of course, searching for, and the hope of finding, love.
Versatile and cinematic at its core, Garcia’s music is sure to please listeners who value strong musicianship and equally strong lyricism and storytelling.
Today Glide is excited to premiere “Apparitions,” one of the major standouts on the new album. Firing off with a gritty guitar riff and strings that feels like a classically-influenced composition, the music sounds like it could be the soundtrack of a rough and tumble action film. Garcia’s lyrics and vocals – straddling the line between outlaw country and Americana rock anthem – are intensely visual in a cinematic sense. What makes this song so special is that it isn’t just a quick shot to the vein as one might think from the first couple of minutes. Garcia stretches out, layering in epic, shredding guitar solos that veer into blues and even heavy metal territory. While the lyrics are potent, it’s the guitar work that makes this tune soar and also gets the listener excited to see what Garcia is capable of in the live setting. Just wait for the song’s finale to experience this feeling.
Listen to the song and read our shot chat with Garcia below…
What is the story behind this song? Why did you write it?
This song was written on the island of Pelau Perentia in Malaysia during a vacation break while I was living and working in South Korea as an English teacher. The song takes place with the backdrop of a stormy night on a beach where the main character is approached by some apparitions who lead him to a place at the bottom of the sea where there is something called a Mirror Tree. From the Mirror Tree, whose branches are made of diamonds and trunk is made of coal, are the faces and voices of everyone he has ever encountered in his life hanging from shards of broken glass. This is a song of contemplation and literal reflection on loyalty, trust, love, friendship, and betrayal, and how all of these people fit into that picture in his life – not necessarily from a place of anger but of contemplation and observation. I think it was a period where I was questioning the meaning and validity of some relationships and what that meant to me at the time.
What kind of a vibe were you going for on this song when you recorded it? Do you think you ended up with a song that sounds like you expected it to sound? If so, how so, and if not, what’s different about it?
I wanted a song that was going to simply rock – one with a proverbial guitar solo and elegant, yet electrifying violin solo, which I wrote out note for note. I spent quite some time envisioning the music in my head before finally settling on the final version and writing it down. The songs represents rock ‘n’ roll in the guitar hero tradition, baroque violin a la Vivaldi or Bach, and some dark poetry drawing inspiration from something like Comte de Lautréamont’s Maldoror. It is one of the more cinematic songs on the album both musically and lyrically.
How do you describe your music to people who haven’t heard it before? How about your live show?
I describe my music as Cinematic Americana, a genre that mixes heavier rock with baroque violins and songwriting. I have had many people come up to me after live shows telling me that my songs belong in soundtracks or in scenes of a movie. I look at the songs on this album as compositions wrapped up in the package of a song: they tell a story in the music as well as independently from the music. I feel that the music in the songs could stand alone as instrumental works. Quite simply, the listener is told a musical story as well as a lyrical one.
How has living in Lubbock, and now Austin, Texas impacted your music and your songwriting?
Lubbock and Austin are two completely different places. As far as them impacting my music, I can’t really be certain. I feel that my music has been impacted by living in other cities and parts of the world and through traveling. I will say, however, where Lubbock is a town where you’ll, on average, encounter people who grew up there and seldom move there from other cities, but Austin is quite different. While there is still a large percentage of people who are native Texans and even native Austinites in Austin, it is becoming increasingly more common to meet people from other cities, states, and even other countries who have been relocated for their various professions, some who have come for some sort of musical pursuit, and those who have simply relocated for Texas’s low cost of living. This has resulted in a migration of wonderful musical talent. Even though growing up all I wanted to do was get out of Lubbock, I can now look back and see the magic that is there in the landscape and the music. Lubbock has a rich music history, and even today when going to listen to live local music in Lubbock, one will encounter some astounding talent, and that talent is not imported from another city or state, generally, but homegrown right in Lubbock! I’ve met and heard some incredibly talented musicians in Austin, but West Texas will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will always be proud to call Lubbock home.
Anthony Garcia’s Acres of Diamonds will be released on July 17th
Photo credit: EricPanico
