Reviews 407: Memory Garden
Secrets of Sound is one of the most interesting and imaginative record labels operating in the modern landscape of balearic music. The project is run by Kane Banner, an artist, visual designer, and considerate curator whose numerous credits include artworks for Be With Records, Relapse, and Dream Chimney (the cover of Sorcerer's Bubble Funk has been a favorite of mine ever since release). With Secrets of Sound, Banner is following a modern library approach, and all of the label’s releases have been genre themed compilations united visually by his distinctive design work. As well, each set of selections released on Secrets of Sound form part of an overarching and still developing series called Exotic Origins, of which there are four contributions so far. The first release was The Last Resort: Balearic at the End of Time, which as the name suggests, set its gaze towards balearic beaches and Ibizan horizons, and featured standout artists such as Lord of the Isles, Jura Sound System, and Seahawks. It even included Mark Barrott’s classic “Watching Stars Over The Rubicon Beltway” from his 2011 Morgenruss III 12”. Next came Cosmosis: Journey Into the Infinite—a much more interstellar affair at the outer reaches of balearic cosmos spotlighting the Iikes of Johnny Jewel, Pye Corner Audio, RAMZi, and Lynch associate Dean Hurley—followed then by Luna Rossa: Eight Cuts In The Giallo Vein. This latter release exhibited modern interpretations from the maddening mindscapes of Italian crime cinema, and featured again Johnny Jewel, as well as other seasoned practitioners of the form…producers and sound artists such as Umberto, Simple Symmetry, and Emil Amos of Holy Sons and Grails.
The fourth excursion in the Exotic Origins adventure—and the subject of this present review—was released at the beginning of this year, and takes on one of my favorite concepts so far. Indeed, for Memory Garden: New Age for Old Worlds, Banner turns his attentions to the restorative sounds and crystal healing tones of exploratory New Age music, and through his magical powers of A&R, selection, and, sequencing, he has assembled a jaw-dropping display of ambient-minded talent. Some of the names that appear on Memory Garden make perfect sense—even if I still marvel at the level of legendary wisdom on display—with towering hero of horizontal sonic mysticism Steve Roach standing out, alongside longtime drone and soundscape experimentalist Chihei Hatakeyama, and 90s chillout champion-turned modern astral aether explorer Jon Tye (seen here via his Ocean Moon project). Other names are also interesting in that, the artists come from sonic realms usually more so associated with tropical vibes, naturalistic house grooves, and balearic beats…artists like Alex Albrecht, Mark Barrott, Lord of the Isles, and Earthtones. So hearing them apply their colorful imaginations and exotic sonic palates to these more meditative and mystical musical modalities results in some surprising moments of sun-searching and center-seeking serenity (though of course, these producers each have histories traveling such stylistic territories...there are many naturalist new age moments on Barrott's Sketches for an Island series, for example, and Earthtones recent collaborations with Sheela Bringi and Kevin Nathanial are also in a similar spiritual sphere). One person I am forgetting to mention is storied songsmith and genre-fluid seeker of progressive and avant-sound Daniel O’Sullivan, who drops a delirious futurescape of psych pop vocal harmonization that is a true album highlight.
The featured tracks from the aforementioned artists form the main body of the Memory Garden narrative, but they are not the totality of the experience, and Banner has included a pair of intro/outro bookends built from celestial synthesizer soundbaths, which then support the lulling voice of Jaroslav Kovaracek. Kovaracek hosted an ambient, new age, and experimental radio program in Australia during the 80s and 90s, an Memory Garden: New Age for Old Words is in fact dedicated to his life and work. Additionally, on the B-side label of the vinyl, there is a secretive QR code that unlocks a hidden track by contemporary composer and Tabloid Recordings associate George Ian Hewitt. His "Memory Garden" is another stellar contribution to this collection of chakra-opening and soul-nourishing rituals, featuring as it does kosmische electronics and contemplative voice overs containing musings on birth, life, and death. And I would regret not mentioning Kane Banner’s visual designs for the compilation, which set the scene perfectly via evocative images of ancient statues in sculpted gardens, spiraling megalithic stone structures, whales swimming in a sea of clouds, cosmic desert dreamworlds and hourglasses counting down some unknown destiny, and blooming clusters of restorative crystal growth.
Various Artists - Memory Garden: New Age for Old Worlds (Secrets of Sound, 2026)
The introduction of Part I (the A-side) sees warm wavering tones from some eternal ocean backgrounding Kovaracek’s calming voice, which speaks of infinity and eternity before welcoming the listener to the Memory Garden. Mark Barrott’s “Coming Up for Air” fades in seamlessly, featuring a deep sea dreamscape of glowing arpeggiations overlaid by barely-there-birdsong. Harmonious string synths reach out towards an infinite horizon of impossible sunset coloration, and the track brings illusory daydreams of some paradise cove hidden from the world…of diving down for sea-floor pearls and shimmering coral gemstones…or sunbathing on some picturesque beach nearby, as tropical birds circle and sing overhead. “Let It Go, Let It Flow” by Earthtones follows, and interestingly enough, carries strong evocations of Mark Barrott’s work as well…especially his productions from the Sketches from an Island period. Immersive sounds of running water merge with crashing wavefronts, as warming fusion pads surround harmonizing island synths that radiate a profound balearic warmth. A hovering and hazy aura pervades, with chord clusters and solar leads smearing into equatorial background balm of romantic jazz exotica, which further supports raindowns of golden glass and flute-like fairy flutters.
Cricket chirps and gong strokes introduce “Glass Bamboo” by Ocean Moon,” while temple strings and forest flutes emerge to create monastic meditation of new age naturalism. Long decaying tones and stretches of silence intersperse while the songs of birds and bugs drift over everything, and at certain moments, billowing blankets of interstellar synthesis melt down from the heavens. Everything is in-tune with the practice of pranayama…as if the whole thing is a controlled flow of universal breath…where each inhale and exhale brings with it synthesized static clouds and electromagnetic sparkle showers. All the while, chimes and bowed strings are buried deep in the yogic energy flow, and minimalist sequences dance far in the distance. The final track of Part I comes from a modern favorite of mine, Alex Albrecht. In his “Sundial,” tribal island hand drums spill over themselves, and slowly careen into a caressing groove. Melancholic moans of midbass melody guide haunted strings and synths that glide like ghosty dream vapors, and it’s all in service of the piano…these sad and soothing ivory incantations that could only come from Albrecht. His touch on the keyboard is so distinctive, so wistful and warming….as if his melodies are imbueing the heart with a sense loss and longing…with an ache for some feeling or memory sitting just out of reach.
Part II of Memory Garden, which takes up the B-side, begins with “Crystal Palace” by Daniel O’Sullivan, featuring Rose Keeler. Glittering galactic glitches and laser lightwaves support ecclesiastical voices which layer overeach other, as the track moves from a holy and futurist voice ritual into something approaching a prismatic psych pop display of balmy Beach Boys brilliance…only with everything time-morphed and heavily drenched in drugged up modulation. The paradise vocal poetics are anchored to big buzzing bass filters, and set afloat in some outer-dimensional space far removed from our own…one where sounds bend and stretch….and colors reflect and refract…in ways never before imagined. There is something so captivating about “Night Blooming Jasmine” by Lord of the Isles, with its melancholic fogs and muted choral mists, which create a longing and lovelorn atmosphere, and a similar sense of melting heartstring mystery as the score from Twin Peaks. Strings sigh and sing alongside subsumed choral angels, and a restorative voice speaks affirmations of peace, healing, and loving light…the effect bringing my mind to 90s chill-out and new age collaborations with Baba Ram Dass. And from here, the whole thing continues to swim and swirl through fantasy phaser manipulations, giving the feeling of floating untethered in a cloudland paradise awash in the hues of some eternal sunrise.
Chihei Hatakeyama’s “Angels & Ambergris” merges cavernous drones from captured sea-floor transmissions, haunted hazes buried in aqueous murk, and subsumed string tones sanded of all texture and sparkle. Billowing clouds of deep blue ambiance flow up through the mix like opaque bodies of indigo ink swirling in an oceanic void, and reverberant voices and percussive echoes evoke ghosts shrouded in seafog. Everything combines together for a droning dream drift through the void, and the track is as much a study in softly textured noise and static as it is anything else…with ancestral howls of electrostatic spiritualism continually threatening to overtake the mix. The final track is from the illustrious Steve Roach. “In the Light of Night” piles pillowy pads over top of themselves, and deep wavefronts of sub bass synthesis create rumbles deep beneath the surface of the Earth. What develops is a study in cosmic synthesizer serenity…with pads floating freely, and a lone polysynth melting into pure trancestate hypnosis. Chords climb towards an everblue sky, and harmonious hazes and delirium dissonances both overlap as they ride off forever on infinitely decaying star-trails. And at the very end of everything, there is a return to the same bucolic warbling warmth of the intro, as Jaroslav Kovaracek utters a gentle goodbye, and a reassurance of a welcome return.
As mentioned earlier, a QR code on the B-side label reveals a hidden track titled “Memory Garden” by George Ian Hewitt. Working via 4-track cassette, Hewitt centers contemplative samples about never waking from sleep, and about experiencing birth, death, and the spaces in between…all over morphing soundscapes of kosmische string synthesis that flow through psychedelic phase shifters, which are further carried by industrial-esque drones of shadow shrouded sub-bass.
(images from my personal copy)
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