Cassette Review // Wet Garden "Deep In Earth" (\\NULL|ZØNE//)

$7 //
Edition of 50 //
https://nullzone.bandcamp.com/album/deep-in-earth //
🎧 //

Right away, I think the first thing you notice with "Deep In Earth" is that even though these other sounds are going on in an electronics way, there are these vocals and it's not in a typical manner.   The vocals come out softer, sultry but they also are kind of hidden behind the other sounds.   They're not so far back there that they become more difficult to hear, but they do seem to be layered underneath things such as the synth beeps which remind me of a dreamy version of "The X-Files".

There aren't a lot of influences to pull out for Wet Garden in terms of comparisons.   There is some Madonna in here, maybe PJ Harvey, but it's so much slowed down compared to them that nothing seems to quite compare with Wet Garden.   And then there's the electronics.   The way the synths just come through is something you might hear on a faster paced instrumental song or maybe even Deerest to some extent, but for the most part, because of this tempo and overall feel to it, Wet Garden is breaking new ground.

See, on one hand, it can have this just chill, minimal vibe to it where you just feel like you're floating along on clouds.   And then a song like "Waking Up" brings in drum machines and the pace seems to pick up a little bit but mostly it just seems to get louder.  I'm not sure why, but I imagine Wet Garden playing shows in a cloud of smoke from a fog machine.   They have that synthwave sort of thing going on.     This can also take us into a Stranger Things vibe as I tend to find these songs to be a bit eerie overall as well. 

It's just that it can be on that verge of sounding like something out of "Alias" or "Hackers" but it just doesn't kind crossover into that faster paced sound directly and I enjoy that about it.    Lasers shoot through space to start "Don't Deny" and this just has a distinct electronic sound to it even if it was instrumental so the fact that it has these vocals and is synth-chill just makes it stand out that much more.     It also becomes this madness, this sort of chaos where nothing seems to make sense and everything just does whatever it wants.

I tend to think music should be listened to at any time.   Now, I don't subscribe to this theory personally, but I've always thought great music should be able to be played at any time.   But it is simply not true.  I have albums I only throw on when I'm angry or sad or need energy.   I think we need to stop cultivating that idea that great music has to apply to any situation.   Perhaps if I've learned anything from music in my years spent living it's that the best music is time specific in the sense that the truer the emotion which comes from it, the harder you feel it and as such the more situational it becomes. 

Loud, distorted drum sounding bursts come through on "Close Up" and though you will be pulled in by the vocals initially, this ultimately becomes something you begin to hear the music more and vocals less the more times you listen to it.    Isn't it funny how music can do that to you- it can feel so far away at first and then the more times you listen to it the closer to you it becomes to the point where you get a better understanding of it and so what you're hearing after five or ten listens isn't the same as when you first pressed play?  Wet Garden takes you on that type of adventure and everyone should be open for adventure.