Gabriel Garzón-Montano: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space.

Bobby Carter | January 19, 2021
If Gabriel Garzón-Montano's solo Tiny Desk back in 2017 was an exercise in restraint and vulnerability, his home set is the polar opposite. It beams ingenuity and unveils multiple layers, figuratively and literally. Taking advantage of of the rare opportunity to gather musicians in quarantine times, he says "It's like being a child who's allowed to do what they always wanted to do when they didn't wanna get up for school, and it's also felt like an adult who didn't know what to do at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon. I'm focusing on oscillating between those states with ease."

That sounds like the same approach he applied to his latest album, last year's genre-snubbing Agüita. In this performance he brought the full band, sporting all white from mask to toe and bringing to life all the sonics we hear on the record. Garzón-Montano morphs into three different characters from Agüita and stretches the boundaries even more, adding salsa flavor to "Muñeca" and delivering some bonus bars on the set opener, "With A Smile."

SET LIST
"With A Smile"
"Muñeca"
"Tombs"

MUSICIANS
Gabriel Garzón-Montano: vocals, guitar, piano
Lenny "The Ox": drums
Nicholas Semrad" Wurlitzer, synth
Justin "Jhawk" Hawkins: guitar, synth
Itai Shapira: bass, synth, guitar
Gracie Sprout: harp
Daniel Rodriguez: drums, percussion
KROMA Quartet: strings

CREDITS
Video: July Holdings, Tommy Nowels
Audio: Ed McEntee, Brittney Orinda, Josh Pleeter
Assistant Producers: Jackson Perry, Stephanie Hanson
Director of Photography: Andrew Fronczak
Production Designer: Greg Yaro
Special Thanks: Gold Diggers Sound, Andrekza, Jagjaguwar and Esteban Cortazar

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Video Producer: Maia Stern
Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin
Tiny Production Team: Bob Boilen, Kara Frame, Morgan Noelle Smith
Executive Producer: Lauren Onkey
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann