Together since 2008, Santa Barbararian band Gardens And Villa made their eponymous debut album with producer Richard Swift, bunking in a makeshift camp outside his Oregon studio for the duration of recording. Given the LP’s somewhat ‘bohemian’ beginnings, the restive nature of its many-coloured content seems hardly surprising. From the taut, metronomic tone of opener, ‘Black Hills’, onwards, G&V retain an utterly elastic take on genre uniformity; dipping into florid, Yeasayer-esque synth-pop (‘Cruise Ship’), dewy balladry (‘Chemtrails’, ‘Sunday Morning’), and even a bout of intergalactic boogie (‘Spacetime’) with equal skill and relish.
Having read an interview with the band in Seattle’s Redefine Magazine in which they wax lyrical on the far-reaching, cosmic concepts behind each track, it’s difficult to know what to make of Gardens And Villa and their artful brand of psychedelic pop. Are they serious, or a bit silly… or both? Do we care? Perhaps a look at the interview, plus a full stream of the album – which is out via Secretly Canadian today, by the way – will clear things up.
You could also catch them on their forthcoming UK tour, which starts off at London’s The Lexington on 3 Nov. Meanwhile, New York blog The Wild Honey Pie has captured the band at their boom-bap-swooning best, playing honey-to-the-bee ditty ‘Orange Blossom’. Marvel at singer/flautist Chris Lynch fruity woodwind flourishes in this session clip:
The Wild Honey Pie Presents: Gardens & Villa – Orange Blossom from The Wild Honey Pie on Vimeo.
Sections: by Aly Barchi - CMU Approved | Tags: Gardens And Villa
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