It’s been a fast few months since First Words was released…  new baby #3, who joined the world around the same time the album did, is four months old now.  And she’s a sweetheart. 

My life, as you can imagine, is a little busy…  so I’m doing what I can to promote this record, enjoy the positives, and not dwell on what I can’t get done.   Did I mention baby #3 is a sweetheart..  prone to laughing incontrolably when she sees my face.

Sending the record out has led to some great reviews, and some not-so-great.  

American-UK loved the record.

… this is simple music for simple enjoyment. Nothing complicated or over done just a selection of fine songs that definitely reward repeated listens. It’s a little US college indie for sure, and no doubt there will be a few Converse wearing kids already claiming they found him first… Harmony and melody are cherished here, there is little room for abstraction or confrontation. Solid from start to finish treat these as individual little three minute nuggets and you may well fall under Garret’s charm too just as I have.

And from AbsolutePunk.net:

Tomorrow is Already Here makes songs that crib light feathering motions of strings, keyboards, horns, and guitars berth by cozy seaside bass rolls and drum beats. His blend of country folk textures and soft pop tempos is very relaxing. In a world that mostly stresses people out, Gengler’s product is a remedy for feeling burned out and weary

Nice… I’ll take that. 

The reviews by Delusions of Adequacy and Two Way Monologues… not so much.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about these words of wisdom from one of the all-time great audio engineers & producers, Terry Manning:

Once you write, perform, produce, or even engineer music for public release and consumption, you are opening yourself up to criticism. And the public is vast…the reactions will almost always vary from “great” to “abysmal” on the same piece of music. I learned long ago that you have to grow a thicker skin if you are going to read the reviews.Sometimes you will find one that touches your heart. “They actually got it!” Out there in that big wild world they understand what you’re trying to do or say. Then you will read a review that simply crushes you. You worked so hard, not to try to make something that will just sell, but something that is worthy of inclusion in the lexicon of modern music…something that came from your heart, from your soul, something on which you worked so very hard, with good intent. And someone out there disliked it so much that they went out of their way to let everyone know how bad you really were.This is all part and parcel of being in the public eye. You can’t really have one without the other.(Led Zeppelin 3) received many absolutely scathing, horrible reviews upon its release…the same for most LZ albums, by the way. Somehow, the bigger a thing you work on, the worse you can read about yourself.JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE…