Album Review: Charlatans At the Garden Gate by Tristen

Click to listen to Tristen's "Baby Drugs" and "Heart and Hope To Die" When Tristen Gaspadarek belts "show me how your daddy and your mama made you" on the twangy rocker "Heart And Hope To Die," it takes a second for the come-on to register. Her addictive debut is full of such moments: catchy refrains with multiple meanings, ear-tugging melodies with hidden hooks. She flaunts a philosophy major's palette amidst echoes of vintage rockabilly and girl group pop: Gods battle, queens bid their rule, girlfriends enable druggy lovers.

Full Review >>

Young singer-songwriter grabs love by the horns A year ago we had the pleasure of introducing Tristen as a “Best of What’s Next” artist. She spoke to us about writing music as a kid, completing her college degree and her upcoming album Charlatans at the Garden Gate. This week, with the release of her confident debut, Tristen reminds us just what it was we loved about her to begin with.

Full Review >>

It’s easy to forget the importance of fundamentals, especially at a time when individual artists have so little power, forced by an overabundance of product to resort to hollow flash and trend-adherence to gain attention. Yet it’s a tight grasp of the basics, and not all that much else, that defines Tristen’s Charlatans at the Garden Gate, an assured debut whose excellence flies in the face of convention. Tristen was initially drawn to the inexorable black hole of Nashville, where countless young female artists have been paved over by the blandness of the Big Country establishment and turned into cute dolls fit for broad consumption.

Full Review >>