We Say…
Members of the thriving Leeds music scene, Green Gardens are four friends first and bandmates after. When not playing as Green Gardens, you’ll find the various members playing with bands like Crake, Honey Guide and Far Caspian, running music venues, booking shows or pulling pints at local institution The Brudenell Social Club. That sense of togetherness and creativity flows into the music the band makes together, working with producers Jamie Lockhart and Rob Slater, on the recordings that became their recently released debut album, This Is Not Your Fault, a co-release between Come Play With Me, and the recently launched EMI North.
Although the record opens with the blink and you’ll miss it sub-15 second intro, fittingly entitled Intro, it really gets going with the almost anti-title track, This Is My Fault. The track fuses Midlake-like harmonies to expansive slacker-folk, as it shares a self-deprecating tale of inter-generational curses, our narrator worrying his own evil has passed onto his children as he sings of, “a rancid wind by your sweet lips is shaking my family tree and ridding me of these rotten fruit that I love so completely”, before pleading they not be blamed for his flaws, “you lay my children’s ugliness at my feet, for they are pure! And I am wretched”. The record’s instant impact continues into the sweeping drama of the recent single, Things I Didn’t Do, where art-rock in the shape of Post Louis or Squid meets clattering maths rock, and an underlying thread of the guilt that can come with the loss of a loved one, “in my freshest state, I wake and wait for it to arrive it wastes no time reminding me of what I didn’t do, to help you through”. After the emotionally and musically bruising introduction, the drop in intensity that arrives with Akin To Sap is a welcome release, as slow-burning guitars meet the slow march of the drum beat, giving the listener room to catch their breath, before the swooping saxophones and delightfully twiddly-guitar noodling of Bellyful and the stripped-back campfire folk of A Cradling. From there it slides into a personal favourite Homeshredder, with its rapid-guitar picking and layered vocals it’s initially reminiscent of fellow newcomers Divorce before it takes a turn into a warm bath of saxophones, that’s much more soothing than its lyrical content would suggest. The smouldering penultimate track, Oslow, glistens with the influence of Big Thief as it explores the ideas of opening up your emotions and the fear of not being there for others, “Oslow, you said you were alone, but how slow I was on the uptake, every word you wrote, so no blame can lie on your doorstep”. The cyclical passage of the record reaches a natural close on the title track, This Is Not Your Fault, which brings the record to an end on fuzzy guitars and meandering woodwind, as Green Gardens reach out warmly with words of unerring comfort before the whole thing collapses to jazzy nothingness and comes roaring back on one last, direct clattering drum beat and a repeated yelp, “I’ve lost it all, exhausted now”. Complex and cathartic, This Is Not Your Fault is a record of self-recrimination yet also one of opening up beyond that, of looking for a way out of the darkness of blame and guilt and getting back into a place of maybe not hope or self-compassion exactly, but of acceptance perhaps and of an openness to the fact that things one day, could look brighter again.
They Say…
FTR: For those who don’t know, who are Green Gardens?
We’re a close group of friends who’ve been collaborating and writing and arranging music in Leeds for over 5 years now. Green Gardens is a tool for us to process things we find hard to communicate outwards otherwise. We love warm and alive sounds from our instruments and keep every element of the recording process as direct and untouched as we can. We love to lean into our influences, the things we’re listening to but more so the people and things around us. It’s soft-rock about loss at it’s core.
FTR: What can you remember about your first show?
Our first show was in a coffee shop. They’re an Indian restaurant now. I don’t think anyone was listening, but it was more for us really than others at that point. It was so early on for us as a band, we’re basically a completely different project at this point. It was important to do though, we value the quiet shows as much as the busy ones.
FTR: Why do you make music? Why not another art form?
Music seems to come naturally to us. We all wish we could draw, sculpt or paint. I think if we had ever made that decision consciously, it wouldn’t be half of what it is.
I love seeing what other people can do and being totally blown away by the technicality of it. It is really helpful to be a polymath in that way. If you can paint and draw and make music as well, then the final product will be so honest. As much as we love our collaborators, having to defer some of that work externally can dilute the original message if it’s not totally organic. That being said, with this release we designed the artwork and merchandise in-house which is a really nice way to tie in another form of expression and have every element reflect the others.
We love the way collaboration works in music too, It’s such a mix of emotions and influence, so to be able to pour all four of our individual thoughts and personalities into one concise place is a really special thing, that is unique music.
FTR: What can people expect from the Green Gardens live show?
We’ve worked hard on bringing the album to life. You’ll get to see the guts of the album. We have arranged the show to lean into the energy of the album, the gentleness and the wailing. As much as we kept the record as untouched as possible, the live show is totally raw and without tricks. We’re excited to go out and present this album in a way that is impermanent, it’ll only exist in the rooms we play it in, which we find cool and exciting.
FTR: What’s next for Green Gardens?
We’re actually in the midst of some conversations and planning for what the next year’s going to bring. It’s looking really exciting so far. We’re on tour in September, and looking at another early in 2024.
The reaction to ‘This Is Not Your Fault’ has been so special so far, and we find ourselves surrounded by good, generous people, so there’s heaps we can’t wait for. We want to release music in 2024. Something substantial. We’re writing a lot at the moment, which can only be a good thing in regards to that. We’ve got too much to do to take a break in any case, so don’t hold your breath.
They Listen To…
Robert Wyatt – Alifib
Broken Social Scene – Cause=Time
Allegra Krieger – Taking It In
Big Thief – Little Things
Mi Mye – Please Let Me Fix This
This Is Not Your Fault is out now via Come Play With Me Records / EMI North. For more information on Green Gardens visit https://linktr.ee/greengardens.
For The Rabbits 