The first journey with Cosmic Garden Project took listeners on adventures around Planet Earth. The psychedelic visions evoked by the band covered a variety of terrains. The tracks on The Green Reverb served as a reminder to stay grounded and connected to the elements.
Red Sand Blue Soil finds the Swedish group on an interstellar tour. Still tethered to humanity, they explore remote planets and the perceptions of extraterrestrial life. Across its six tracks, the album reaches for the farthest edges of an ever-expanding consciousness.
The musical influences drawn on include folk, prog, and psychedelic rock. As one of the founders of Swedish Dadaists, Cosmic Overdose, and its legendary successor, Twice a Man, Dan Söderqvist brings a creative veteran’s perspective to the proceedings. Per Svensson, the sculptor and sound artist, adds bass and keyboards. Jerry Johansson (Grovjobb) and Pontus Torstensson round out the crew for your trip around the stars.
The material is lucid and organic. It begins with “Leaving Earth,” a track that infuses Eastern sounds with clouds of resonance from space rock guitars before dissolving into whisps of vapour.
“Olympus Mons” steers a course past the massive volcano on Mars that resembles a galactic nipple. The material rumbles with majestic reverb as the magma flows. It is followed by “Ecopoets on Mars,” which looks through a thinner atmosphere at the ancient lights in the sky.
“Astral Bodies” picks this theme up with an track filled with cymbals and sitars. Its an exotic passage that bends space and time masterfully.
“The Door Is Open” leads to “Extra Terrestrial Kaleidoscope,” and the cosmic garden is watered with psychedelic grooves. Space really is the place.
[Main photo credit: Hanna Eliasson]