Richmond, VA’s Dash Lewis, aka GARDENER, returns to Golden Ratio Frequencies for another dose of textural, swirling, mind journey music.
A lot has happened in the two years since Gardener’s last release for GRFRQ, A Place Where Nothing Was. With the world in an ever-shifting climate feeling more and more as though it’s headed over an edge of uncertainty (and nowhere more so than his native United States), Lewis shows us a spark of optimism through these troubled times with Keep The Candles Lit. Providing an aural respite, its side-long pieces weave through the shadows and chaos, eventually finding beauty in the decay. Deciding to reflect on current times by using music as a tool for spiritual refuge and inner contemplation, Lewis says:
“The two pieces of music that make up 'Keep the Candles Lit' represent a deeper internal investigation into my spirituality. At their core, they are pieces of devotional music, but they hold an ever-present tension and anxiety that informs how I move through the world. I wanted to create a space where I could acknowledge that anxiety, yet allow myself a distance from which to examine, and, hopefully, overcome it. Our spirits many never be calm, but we can still experience the grace and beauty present in the chaotic conditions that constitute our existence.”
Honed whilst on the road with legendary dream pop band, Landing, during the summer of 2018 and once again recorded at his Richmond, VA home, Keep The Candles Lit, brings us the wonderful bliss-out sounds of cascading synthesizer sequences and intertwining vocal loops familiar of Lewis’ work, but with an expansion of clarity, direction, and intention that seeps into his sound world, helping to lift us up to the light.
It was the writer and occultist, Israel Regardie, who viewed the artists, poets, and musicians of the world as the “wick of humanity,” whose candle, no matter how small, would illuminate through the darkness, transcending chaos and reconnecting us to the beauty and magic of existence, seeing through the veil and bringing back the light of beyond. Keep The Candles Lit is one such illumination; one whose wick burns brightly guiding us through the shadows.
Physical copies presented on professionally dubbed C40 Cassette, with on body print, full colour double sided 4 page inlay and golden spiral acetate.
released October 21, 2019
Recorded and mixed fall 2018/spring 2019 at home in Richmond, VA by Dash Lewis
Mastered by Travis Thatcher
Modular synth, voice, pedals, amps, 4 track
photos by Dash Lewis
thanks to Alex Macarte, Rae Whitlock, Landing, and you
credits
released October 21, 2019
all sounds, mixing, photos by Dash Lewis
mastered by Travis Thatcher
layout by Alex Macarte
Less a solo act than a one-man megalith, Khôra builds impressive experimental soundscapes from modular synths, flutes, harps, and more. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 19, 2020
