A Gardening Club Project - 2021 - The Time Trilogy

(14:45; Melodic Revolution Records)

Canadian project THE GARDENING CLUB is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Martin Springett, named after his solo album from 1983. In recent years this project has sprung to life releasing new material at a steady pace, with two albums appearing in the last three years or so. At the start of 2021 an EP appeared, with A Gardening Club Project named as the artist name, something that indicates that this production is something of an offshoot from the regular one I presume. The EP is named "The Time Trilogy", and was released through US label Melodic Revolution Records.

The material on this trilogy does take a few steps away from what I can recall The Gardening Club explored on their first two albums. At least the opening two songs, that to my ears mainly revolve around world music instruments and rhythms, with a wee bit of jazz thrown in for good measure alongside elements that may be pulled from either progressive rock or classical music, with chamber music the specific detail if the latter is the most correct one. A wide array of plucked and textured instruments come, go and fluctuate here, with rhythms added in and out as appropriate for the needs of the composition, with a nice array of different roles supplied by strings as the icing on the cake. Details that may possibly have more of an Asian origin or inspiration are noted on the first of these songs, as well as some other elements I generally note down as world music without further specifications, and I believe there may be some Indian or raga elements tucked in with for the shorter second track, alongside some spirited flamenco elements. Both of these have their own unique flavor, both of them with more of a foundation in world music than anything else in my opinion, and both of them haunting affairs to boot.

The concluding song takes us more back to the kind of material I'd expect from The Gardening Club, material more rooted in rock music traditions. Folk music elements is a part of the totality here too, but much more toned down, with space and room for more atmospheric oriented passages like a dream laden guitar solo, floating keyboard textures and the acoustic guitar as well as the rhythms used in a less world music oriented manner in general. Rather different from the opening two tracks, but with points of reference that doesn't quite make this song the odd one out on this EP.

All the songs are interesting and inspiring though, haunting and captivating, with Springett's lived in vocals and some inspired but subtle layered vocals and vocal harmonies as the icing on the cake. Perhaps not music that will be universally enjoyed, but those who get the music here will probably get it in a major way. If folk music, world music and mainly acoustic based music flavored with a touch of jazz and progressive rock sounds like your kind of music, this production should be well worth an inspection. Personally I note this down as a brilliant creation, with the use of subtle elements as one of the most alluring elements throughout.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, February 2021

Links:
http://gardeningclubmusicandart.ca/
https://mrrmusic.com/