NYC-based artist Chris Garneau today has released his new album, In Reverse via The Orchard and Rough Trade Publishing. The release is accompanied by a visualizer/video for the album’s lush, textured title track. “‘In Reverse’ is a love song — a missive. It holds past hurt next to a love that bends around time: calm, patient, awake,” Garneau says of the track. “It’s a quiet victory, without chaos, performance, or the need to fix anything. There’s no dramatic surrender — only recognition, like remembering what love is supposed to feel like, already written into the body.” The album is a collection of eight songs exploring the end of a turbulent relationship and the sudden emergence of new love, desire, and clarity. Written between May 2024 and May 2025, the album captures both the residue of the past and the forward movement into intimacy and presence.

Garneau began the record after setting aside nearly an entire body of work, finding a renewed emotional and creative focus. At its core, In Reverse is dark dream pop defined by lush melodies, ethereal textures, and immersive, cinematic arrangements. Layers of guitars, synths, piano, strings, and rich rhythms create a full, expansive sound that remains immediate and human, letting loss, desire, and intimacy coexist naturally.  Gothic-tinged shoegaze atmospheres deepen the intensity, giving the record a darker, more enveloping feel, anchored by strong melodic instincts.

“In Reverse is about getting honest with my life again, and letting it move instead of trying to control it,” he explains. “Across the record, I’m looking back at patterns and behaviors, and noticing the moment when certain things don’t fit anymore. The songs move between loss and renewal, and open into a visceral kind of love — desire that isn’t forced, intimacy without control, without trying to save or fix anyone. At its core, the album is about relief — that feeling when something gentle replaces survival. It’s about arriving at a place where you can rest without disappearing”

In Reverse was produced in New York with the collaborative efforts of three distinct producers: Dan Marcellus (Lo-Fang, Happy Hollows), who mixed the entire record and played drums on select tracks; Patrick Higgins (Zs, Nicolas Jaar), bringing dusky, experimental sensibilities to the arrangements; and Mike McGuire (Gregory & the Hawk, Alger Moy), adding nuanced instrumentation and psych-folk textures. The album was artfully mastered by Ruairi O’Flaherty (Lana Del Rey, Omar Apollo, St. Vincent) in Los Angeles. The production brings Garneau’s vision to life, balancing rich, immersive sound with emotional immediacy on his sixth full-length record.

In Reverse by Chris Garneau is out today. 

In Reverse – TRACK LISTING:

1. In Reverse
2. Goldmine
3. Canon
4. Off the Ring
5. China Shop
6. Riot
7. Freak Shadow
8. Last Party 

Chris Garneau Bio

Chris Garneau emerged on the New York music scene in 2006 with his debut album Music for Tourists, first released on Absolutely Kosher Records. The album was released in Europe and Asia in 2007. His intimate, piano-driven sound caught international attention, particularly in France, after Vincent Moon filmed his Take-Away Show series.

Garneau’s haunting cover of Elliott Smith’s “Between the Bars” was featured in Pedro Almodóvar’s 2011 film The Skin I Live In, further cementing his presence on the global stage. Over the years, Garneau has released a series of critically acclaimed albums, including C-Sides EP (2007), El Radio (2009), Winter Games (2013), and Yours (2018). His distinctive voice and cinematic songwriting have led him to tour extensively across North America, Europe, Asia, and Brazil, sharing the stage with artists such as Xiu Xiu, José González, Keren Ann, My Brightest Diamond, Dawn Landes, Joan as Policewoman, among many others. Garneau opened for Charlotte Gainsbourg at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

The Kind (2021), Garneau’s fifth studio album, was produced by Patrick Higgins and marked both an evolution in his sound and a return to his roots. With its sparse arrangements and piano-driven production, the album echoed the intimacy of Music for Tourists while pushing his songwriting into new emotional depths. Following its release, he continued releasing dynamic singles “Ballard”, “Stranger”, and “Overexposure”, as well as his Out of Love EP in December 2023.

Now, Garneau returns with his new album In Reverse. Produced and mixed alongside Dan Marcellus (Lo-Fang, Happy Hollows) and mastered by Ruairi O’Flaherty at Nomograph (Lana Del Rey, St. Vincent), the album signals an exciting new chapter in his ever-evolving artistry. With roots in New York and Paris, Garneau has been captivating audiences around the world since his debut.