| | October 19, 2026 (Greystones, IE) // Garrett Anthony Rice has released Equinox, an 18-track double album produced by Chris Potter (The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, U2, The Verve), following the connections between personal memory, cultural history and the music that shaped him. The album encompasses atmospheric rock choices as well as some blues, psychedelic pieces, and classic rock. Overall, Rice's music is less about ordering ideas logically than exploring how different, seemingly unrelated themes can sit side by side and how memories, Irish mythology, culture, and musical influences come together.
While Rice’s influences show up in the music, Equinox is less about nostalgia and more about exploring the impact of those influences. For instance, “Eden” was composed with Richard Ashcroft in mind, being a musical hero of Rice’s. Similarly, “Property (An Ode To Roger Syd Barrett, A Genius, 1946 - Infinity)” and “Purple Man (For Jimi Hendrix)” pay tribute to two artists whose bravery in breaking free of conventions led Rice to follow suit. However, Rice does not try to reproduce the style of any of these influences; rather, he is fascinated by the freedom to forge an individual artistic identity. |
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The connection between the album and the concept of time takes a more personal dimension in “Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder.” This song was initially recorded in the form of a home demo in 1992. While working on the album Equinox, Rice found the old cassette tape containing the home recording, which included the sound of the tape recorder being activated. After listening to the unrefined version of the song, Potter encouraged the artist to work on this composition, resulting in a new version. “Sparking Waterfalls” follows a boy who lost his father at a young age to illness, looking back on watching him repair cars in a rural Irish town during the 1960s.
Throughout Equinox, time is never far from loss. "Going Up (To See Him)" was drafted in memory of Rice's best friend, who passed away in the early 1990s, but went unwritten for more than twenty years. "In The Night Time We Shone" and "In The Darkness With The Spirit Of The Lake (A Family Tragedy)" enhance the theme of folklore, transforming the characters such as Banshees and Púca into mysterious and evil figures. The same way, the song "The Coastal Walls (The Shame Of Everyone)" addresses the slave trade in America, while "When Leaves Keep Falling" contemplates humanity’s complex relationship with nature.
Equally compelling are Rice’s explorations of the messy world of human relationships. His song “My Sons” deals with the consequences of estrangement in one’s family, “Standing In A Robe” features the language of power and tyranny against the backdrop of a failing human connection, and in “Try To Make It Right (Our End Game),” the singer watches the end of a marriage while trying to protect his children from the fallout. Finally, in the song “Take Me Down to Where Our Love Plays,” intimacy takes on a deeper meaning.
What makes Equinox cohesive is not a single subject but Rice’s willingness to follow an idea wherever it takes him. A song can begin with a childhood memory and end somewhere mythological; a tribute to a musical hero can become an examination of artistic identity; a relationship song can suddenly open onto questions of power and expectation. His stream of consciousness writing, unconventional arrangements and instinctive approach to composition give the album the feeling of a mind moving freely between decades, places and obsessions.
Equinox is ultimately less concerned with resolving those connections than revealing them. The album becomes an amalgamation of the characters, narratives, sounds, and questions that have continued to haunt Rice, allowing him to explore all of these together and create a huge canvas of an artist who continues to follow his imagination. |
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Garrett Anthony Rice // Credit: Karin Janssen |
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About Garrett Anthony Rice |
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Hailing from Greystones, County Wicklow (via Dublin, Ireland), singer-songwriter Garrett Anthony Rice is a masterful storyteller whose work blends poetic lyricism with timeless melody. Drawing comparisons to Bob Dylan and John Lennon for his narrative depth, and to James Taylor, The Stone Roses, Travis, and Catfish and the Bottlemen for his melodic sensibility, Rice crafts songs that are intimate, reflective, and emotionally resonant.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rice revisited his extensive catalog of self-penned material while writing new songs, a period of reflection that led to the release of his debut album in October 2023 under the alias (i) CONSULT. Titled Reflections Part II: The Very Best Of…., the album quickly gained international traction, surpassing 130,000 streams across 93 countries and earning widespread acclaim for its honesty and depth.
Just two months after its release, the album caught the attention of legendary UK producer Chris Potter (The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, U2, Richard Ashcroft/The Verve). The pair began work on a self-titled double album, EQUINOX, selecting 18 tracks from an initial pool of 30 demos. Recorded across multiple sessions at Kore Studios in London, Potter’s home studio in Bournemouth, and Darklands Studio in Dublin—with gospel choir recordings adding further emotional weight—EQUINOX is out now. |
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