If earlier successes with his EPs and Grammy-nominated collaboration with Beyonce were any indicator of his ability, it ought to be no surprise that Kevin Garrett would out-do himself with his first LP, Hoax, released March 22, 2019. In a single run-through of the 13-track album, Garrett’s strong musical sensibilities and range as a writer come through in a way like nothing else produced to-date by the Pittsburgh-based artist.
In Hoax, Garrett pares back his synthetic beats and deep bass, infusing the songs with a more instrument-oriented sound, showcasing piano, guitar, and orchestral accompaniments. And although Garrett’s lost-love, broken-hearted lyrical themes have changed little in their overall character, Hoax shows a new perspective of this emotional crooner’s worldview, defined, as always, by heartbreak. Garrett gives us a look into the struggles that animate romantic love in the secular world. With a refreshingly earnest sound and a vulnerability that goes beyond the expression of pain and loss, we see what it means to wrestle with faith in a faithless world.
Twice on the album, the songs’ speaker refers to the effects of a faith that he seems to have lost. He says openly, “Easy to say that I’ve not been the same since I gave up on praying,” and in conversation with a lost lover, he asks, “Do I pray? No, but I have faith you might.” Although it is difficult for any themes to break through the din of heartbreak, faith and the lack thereof is a clear subplot in Hoax’s lyrics.
Garrett’s lyrics wrestle most clearly with faith on Side 2 of the vinyl print, Tracks 5, 6, and 7. In these songs we see the speaker swing from the existential discomfort of self-doubt to the assurance of brazen selfishness, and in the transition we are exposed to the hazards of a love that drifts aimlessly without the source of love to anchor it strong and sure “within the veil” (Heb 6:19).
‘Smoke’, the fifth track on the album, introduces us to a rare self-reflection, a reflection that does not rely on a romantic relationship. We see what happens when love fades, relationships end, and lovers are left on their own. The speaker wants “something new” to entertain him. He has aged. He is numb. He’s lost the feeling of infatuation, the only reality in his relationship. But that feeling is subjective and elusive and lifts like a haze of smoke, exposing the speaker as the sham he is. He has no depth. He has no beliefs. Without his love, he is little and may be worthless. He must establish himself in something objective and real if he will abide in this feckless world.
Next comes ‘Title Track’, which we could also rightly title ‘Hoax’. In this song we see the speaker move on from his previously doomed relationship to an equally doomed one. Each of the lovers in this new relationship know that their fidelity to each other is based on all of the love they have for each other; however, each of the lovers also know that their love is not worth the paper it is printed on. Words are spoken, carrying no weight beyond the moment, for they are established on fleeting emotions that both parties know will not last. If they feel or do anything real, it would be purely incidental, only if they trip and fall over the stumbling block of the other. They know their love is based on nothing of substance, but hey, why not give it a go and “see where this will lead?” This love thing seems to work for other people, so why not them too? Well, because love never works, and they know better. They pessimistically know it is all a big joke, and they know they are fooling each other and themselves. It is all a hoax.
Side 2 of the vinyl wraps up with ‘How Dare We Fall’, a song dripping with angry irony and spite. Musically, the song is pumped full of attitude, probably the most striking sounds on the whole album. The elemental beat at the beginning of the song is broken with the question, “If I gave you my heart and my soul, would you even take it?” No longer are two lovers playing a melancholic game trying to believe in something they know will fail. Here, they face the truth head-on. They know the relationship is based on nothing beyond the subjectivities of emotions and words that neither are willing to stand by. They know they are hurting each other, they know they are hurting themselves, but the world says, “Love is all you need,” so they keep trying, knowing full well that they are leaving lasting wounds and scars on each other. Love is pain, a pain that they need to pursue, a pain as inevitable as it is alluring.
What Garrett presents in these three songs so clearly, a truth that is defended pointedly in the thematic pain that haunts all of his lyrics, is that a love that is not based in its source is doomed to failure. It will tear deeply into the psyches of those who fall prey. And if we are honest, we all fall prey.
The bittersweet pain that causes us to joylessly intone, “It is better to have loved and lost…,” is characteristic of a love that reminds us so little of that introduced in 1 Corinthians 13. The self-sacrifice and purity of intention that can only be found through peace and assurance in relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit is nothing like the ravaging pursuit of self-satisfaction in worldly love. We chase it for the high we crave in full view of the lows we will suffer when we inevitably crash.
But there is a better way. We are told, “Faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). Garrett’s speaker realizes that his loss of faith is a problem and hopes that his romantic partner might hold onto hers. Without that faith, there is no hope of an abiding love. And without love, life becomes as fragile and worthless as ash. He is not wrong to pursue love as his primary aim, but so long as Garrett continues to write about love without rooting it in a little faith and hope, he will continue to give us songs that describe such incredible pain. Love is great because God is great and God is Love. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). Without the love of God, the world’s idea of love is a puny thing corrupted with pain and suffering.
Performing as Kevin Garrett, this talented artist has never given us anything but these sad songs. However, if and when he finds a foundation of objectivity in real love, Garrett has the ability and heart to give the world some beautifully fulfilling and satisfyingly uplifting tunes. For us fans, it will probably be worth the wait.