Gardeners World

Rich oneiric fertilizer from backwoods guitar-alchemist and dream compos(t)er, David Tagg. LMYE regulars may recall his excellent Pentecost featured in our Festive 50 last year; his sadly unsung Waist-deep Seas of Milk had been hymned - largely solo - here way back in 2008. Tagg releases have previously come through labels like his own Expanding Electronic Diversity, and sister labels, Second Sun, and Install, joint enterprises with kindred spirit, Brian Grainger/Milieu, but more of his prolific output is now accessible via bandcamp, most recently this lovely Dream Compost.

Dream compost by installsound

The one of us at LMYE that’s a mad guitar-drone-head would, if pressed, number Tagg in his Top 3 Great Axescapists; what's that? For likemind enthusiasts, see here for a 6-part strum’n’space odyssey, assembled a few years back, though still sounding pretty Now - gratfiyingly, the last few years of revisionism having opened the ears of a previously synth-monotheistic and laptop-dogmatic experimental ambient orthodoxy to The Way Of The Fretboard. Yes, we’ve come a long way from Play In A Day, what with the array of sonic possibilities and sheer ambit covered - from software-squidgin’ types like Fennesz and Machinefabriek to FX-mainlinin’ banjo-ists like Scott Cortez/lovesliescrushing and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.

Anyway, David’s back again to make that steel-string thing sing so let words relent:

Anemone by installsound

Canna by installsound

Cassette from Install or Experimedia, but all sold out, so bandcamp’s the place.

A trawl through Install unearthed another recent gardening-themed gem, this from a Tagg team – as our man Dave duels banjo with another discovery from several years ago, now know to every ambient man and his dog, star of the string-driven ambient thing, Hakobune. Their gorgeous collab In Sea-land, under the moniker The Garden, calls forth the following lines: “It isn't often that collaborative projects bear such bountiful fruit right from the start of their conception, but sometimes, nature seems to have another motive in mind, and we're given a very special and very unique result. Hailing from near-opposite sides of the globe, David Tagg and Takahiro Yorifuji (also known here at Install and elsewhere as Hakobune) decided to combine their complementary approaches to ambient guitar music and make something new together. The Garden - In Sea-Land, certainly conjures images of organic growth in a surreal landscape, and the album colors in the empty spaces with watery blue melodies submerged in ocean water and triumphant overarching towers of weathered stone drones surrounded by sea spray and thin clouds. Both similar to what David and Takahiro have individually created before, and also unique to itself, these two men have found an alchemical assurance in combining their crafts with The Garden. Sure to please fans of either musician's work, or anyone who appreciates gentle guitars unspooled over a canvas of water and green. Deep and lush, alive and vibrant. A multifaceted pleasurable listen for the hot Summer months.”



Try it for yourselves:

the garden - in sea land (album preview) by experimedia

You can grab it from the invaluable Experimedia, or if you’re UK-local, from the lads at Norman Records.



Important: LMYE only makes music available that artists/labels have chosen to share freely. Let us know if something here shouldn't be.