Listen to the Album Sonic Youth, Ariel Pink, Yoko Ono and Others Recorded for Plants
It's some seriously chill listening.
No, this isn't The Onion or an ad for Portlandia. It may be the most hipster headline we've written for some time, but the news is interesting all the same. In 2002, New York-based artist Peter Coffin began a project called Music For Plants. Exploring the idea that plants can hear and respond to different types of sounds, he enlisted the help of a bunch of famous musicians and got to recording music in greenhouses all over the world. Twelve years later, he's released the relaxing, flower child goodness unto all of the internet and it's safe to say your Sunday listening has got significantly more chilled.
With special compositions performed by Sonic Youth, Ariel Pink, Mice Parade, Yoko Ono, and members of Animal Collective, the two volumes Coffin has released via Soundcloud are surprisingly star-studded. Though you may find a couple of them familiar — Ariel Pink's offering 'Passing the Petal 2 U' also appeared on their 2007 EP Scared Famous — the general audience for most tracks has so far consisted of ferns and flowers.
Of course, this is something you can deduct from the general meandering, floaty, chillwave style of both volumes. Most tracks are characterised by birds quietly chirping alongside delicate guitar picking, slow-paced melody and, one happy occasion, a vibraphone makes an appearance. One wouldn't usually pick Sonic Youth for such a collection, but their instrumental track 'Creepers and Climbers' fits in well; the perfect choice for the alternative pot plant among the bunch.
Coffin has released both volumes online as publicity for his recent installation in New York. With the goal of recording a third volume, artists such as Kelela, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Teengirl Fantasy are currently bunkered down in a gallery greenhouse serenading more lucky foliage.
Though we fully realise you are not a plant of any kind, we still recommend listening to the volumes below if you're after a weekend chill session. For optimum enjoyment, we suggest listening to the music while basking in the sun or being lightly sprinkled with a Spring rain. Though the music has not yet been tested on human brains, we're secretly holding out hope that it will somehow make us slightly taller.
Via Pitchfork and Dazed Digital.
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