In 1978, Brian Eno made Music For Airports – a revolutionary moment in the history of ambient music – but two years before that, Mort Garson made music for plants.
Yes, a record of piano and electronic music that was designed to be played for the benefit of houseplants. The subtitle of the album is “warm earth music for plants… and the people that love them” and now it gets a vinyl reissue after a long time spent out of print, with a second houseplant boom well and truly in force. A hippy concept perhaps, but musically it has real intrigue.
One of the early recordings to incorporate a Moog, it criss-crosses its way across cheesy lounge music to eerie sci-fi wonder and electronic stoner chill. Whether or not the plants ever dug it is up for debate, but Garson’s work still carries an engulfing curiosity to it in 2019.
8/10
Daniel Dylan Wray