`The Instant Garden` is a new collaborative album between lead singer, songwriter, guitarist, bassist, and piano player Dr. Robert (born Bruce Robert Howard) from new wave band The Blow Monkeys and acid jazz guitar and vocalist from jazz rock, soul rock band Mother Earth, Matt Deighton.
We are introduced to the album with `Already There` which has a hint of psychedelia, a tender dreamy offering that could well be about reaching a place or state of consciousness. A strummed acoustic guitar guides us into `Dude In A Roller` a reflective offering with finger cymbal percussion, a shook tambourine, and delightful vocal harmonies.
`Giving Up The Ghost` a track that`s maybe about stopping trying brought me back to my teens as I felt it had a `Life Is Strange` Bolan vibe. The wonderfully titled `Gardening In The Mediterranean Way` could have been about another BBC 2 horticultural programme but it appears to be a metaphor on adapting to situations that you find yourself ensconced in. A temperate number where you can hear the guitar frets with lyrics that have one eye on the future.
`Supernatural Seas` does have a slight mystical vibe with a brief faraway guitar solo. The title `God Is Nature` is a central tenet of pantheism, a philosophical and religious belief that the universe and nature are identical to divinity or a supreme entity. We enjoy finger cymbals, a strummed acoustic guitar, intricate guitar chords and questioning lyrical vocals which gives the track a spiritual texture, a search for belonging maybe.
Title track `The Instant Garden` put me in mind of Donovan Phillips Leitch (Donovan) the mystic folk singer and the captivating odes he was so adept at creating. There`s a touch of Americana about `Philosophy` and while the concept is immense as it`s the systematic study of fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, and mind, here it`s an enticing soothing earworm akin to a big warm hug.
`Ten Places Safe` is a bit of an “out there” hallucinogenic submission with some sublime guitar chord licks. There`s a real illusory texture about `Endless Circle` which may well relate to the continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
`Superstitious Woman` again brought to mind T.Rex but this time `Hot Love` so maybe this lady in the song is this duo`s woman of gold. The final outing `Crying Like A Child` had touches of Bowie`s Ziggy era `Starman` but more trippy, if that`s possible.
One word sums up `The Instant Garden` for me and that`s “wonderful.” I really loved this album . It`s peaceful, tender, unassuming, tranquil, and harmonious but it also evokes something from within your soul without you really being aware of it. We have a folk festival in the bohemian suburb of Moseley in Birmingham in late August early September and this duo would be ideal.
If you can think of a better use of forty minutes rather than enveloping yourself in the delights of visiting and spending time in `The Instant Garden` then I’d be astounded.
Rating 9/10
