“Floating Gardens” is a dreamy track from Tan Cologne. The video is a cool black and white number that puts you in that place. It’s someplace to be which just might be better than here. Without further adieu, check out the dreamy video on Youtube. The press release is below so do yourself a favor and check it out.
Today TAN COLOGNE announce their new album ‘Earth Visions Of Water Spaces’ for release on September 9th on Labrador Records and share a new single & accompanying video “Floating Gardens”.
Listening to the ethereal, spangled, psychedelic grandeur at the heart of ‘Earth Visions Of Water Spaces’, it feels appropriate that Tan Cologne reside and record amid the sparse, almost lunar landscapes of Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. Their weightless songs appear to defy gravity, with the voices of Lauren Green and Marissa Maciasfloating in an empty sky while guitars shimmer on a distant horizon. That said, these same songs feel fluid, almost aqueous, their evolution unhurried as they ripple gracefully towards the skyline. It’s no surprise, therefore, to discover the album’s central theme, one highlighted by its name and more than a few of its song titles, because it’s inspired by something precious to all who live in such environments.
“We would like listeners to feel they are submerged within or near the presence of water,” the duo says. “The entire album is about water: droplets of water, atmospheric exchanges of water, and the transformation of Earth by and through water. We were drawn to this through finding shells within the desert landscape. We also read a story in the newspaper about a 300-million-year-old shark fossil found in the mountains in New Mexico thirty miles southwest of Albuquerque. There’s a lot to consider in reflecting on where the Earth’s path has been, and where and what it may be, water of course being the vital experience for existence.”
Today’s new single, “Floating Gardens” is about shallow depth ecosystems of water and was inspired by the ancient Aztec gardens of Mexico City known as Xochimilco. They comment: “A shimmery glide on the surface of water recalling past civilizations, the song tells a story of a “skin of water” covering the Earth and transforming the landscape into grasslands. We focused on imperfections and inter-dimensional existence.”
Speaking on the accompanying video, they add: “We dreamed about making a video that followed a pathway of Creation, Connection, and Observation and centered it around the portal of surfing. We filmed these interactions in California through family, friends and lagoon bird life. The music video features Pat Lennon, an old school surfer, woodworker, musician, and surfboard shaper. We also followed good friend Fino Burgos in their playful connection to the element of water through surfing. We were inspired to relay these small vignettes (I, II, III) to communicate spiritual devotion to water.”
Green and Macias began recording their second album, the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Cave Vaults On The Moon In New Mexico’, in the summer of 2021 at their home, a relatively remote location. Swimming became an important daily ritual, as did gardening and visiting a nearby dry river bed, where they wrote recent single “Topaz Wave”, in whose video it can be seen. “The sides of the arroyo walls are shaped like curved waves,” they say, “reflecting the experience of tidal and earth transformation, and how the desert land was once ocean.”
The rest of each day was spent writing and recording. Tan Cologne are an entirely self-contained unit, responsible for every sound on the record, sharing vocal, guitar, lap steel, synths and percussion duties, with Green adding drums, bass, autoharp, and melodica and Macias keyboards as well as bouzouki, not to mention the artwork’s photography. At all times, however, their proximity to nature and the ferocity of its elements made its own crucial contribution to the record’s development. “The summers in New Mexico have major monsoons and lightning storms,” they explain. “Most of the recording was done during moody and wild weather in days full of contrast, from lightning storms to dust devils to snow. The album was created to tell stories of water on Earth, with all of its songs being reflections of past, present, and future civilisations.”
With the likes of Mazzy Star and Grouper echoing across the plains, the ghosts of Cocteau Twins tracing patterns amid night-time stars and Verve’s oft-overlooked A Storm In Heaven drifting down dried riverbeds in the surrounding barren landscape, ‘Earth Visions of Water Spaces’ is the perfect vessel for such lofty considerations
Extolled by a diverse range of people – from members of Broken Social Scene and The Psychedelic Furs to Gorilla vs Bear, which included Cave Vaults… as one of 2020’s ‘Favourite Albums’, and Brooklyn Vegan, who listed it as one of Indie Basement’s ‘Best Albums’, not to mention Ripley Johnson (Moon Duo), who’s offered significant support on his NTS Live shows – Tan Cologne’s interests are as many as their admirers. They cite an appreciation for Jessica Pratt, Amen Dunes, Bitchin’ Bajas and Sade, and are as likely to engage in conversation about UFOs as about recipes, plants, textiles, and wood sculpting. Nothing, however, is more important to them than ‘Earth Visions of Water Spaces’s guiding spirit.
“The present and future being of Earth’s water and lands are an ever-present concern and prayer cycle for us,” they conclude. “The fires in the western United States are becoming omnipresent, and everything feels different and, at times, bleak. We hope humanity can shift to care for and heal our Mother Earth together.” ‘Earth Visions of Water Spaces’ is consequently the work of a band who’ve seen first-hand the crisis unfolding around us, and it’s a vivid, ingenious and aptly atmospheric reminder of what’s at stake. There’s really no excuse not to dive in.
‘Earth Visions Of Water Spaces’ will be released on September 2nd via Labrador Records.
‘Earth Visions Of Water Spaces’ track list:
- Topaz Wave
- Floating Gardens
- Orbs
- Space in the Palms
- Pastels
- Blue Swim
- Shell Grotto
- Winds Below Water
- Heretic Porcelain
Tan Cologne live dates:
September 2 – Pescetrullo (Artist residency performance) – Ostuni, Italy
September 9 – Landet – Stockholm, Sweden
September 10 – (Day) at Delicious Goldfish Records – Stockholm, Sweden
September 10 – (Night) at Patricia (boat show) – Stockholm, Sweden
