Chad VanGaalen is returning with a new album. Called World's Most Stressed Out Gardener, the record arrives on March 19 via Flemish Eye/Sub Pop. Now, though, you can watch a video for the newly shared album track "Samurai Sword."
The record marks the official follow-up to 2017's Light Information, though VanGaalen has released various low-key efforts since then. World's Most Stressed Out Gardener consists of 13 tracks, and it was recorded at VanGaalen's Yoko Eno Studio in Calgary and mastered by Ryan Morey in Montreal.
Of World's Most Stressed Out Gardener, a press release states: "This is a record that gleams with VanGaalen's musical signatures: found sound, reverb, polychromatic folk music that is by turns cartoonish and hyperphysical — like ultra magnified footage of a virus or a leaf."
As for "Samurai Sword," VanGaalen stated, "I had just ripped a bunch of old leaking copper pipe out of my basement in a reno job that I jumped into willy nilly. Realizing how magical the pipes sounded, I put them on some dirty styrofoam and banged out the janky beat that introduces the song! Garbage is life.
"It just spilled out in a couple minutes. I didn't try to stop it because I was smiling like I was just cruising through my neighbourhood. Simple like a sandbox. An ode to the simplicity. It's hard to let things be simple. But simple is easy on the mind, and being jovial in song is something I find really difficult. Why? What?"
Speaking of his animated video, VanGaalen had this to say: "I was drawing black and white plant backgrounds for this song because of the great old samurai movies of the past. I like how nature sometimes takes the lead. I was getting all knotted in my mind about the sky. I looked at my dad's watercolor paintings of a sky, and felt like I couldn't get the feel right. So, I just borrowed his sky for a scene and then I realized that my dad's paintings were perfect and already full of real life energy. I used them to finish the video and felt like we got to go on this quest together. In my mind. Fuck time."
Watch the "Samurai Sword" video below, where you'll also find the album's tracklist.
World's Most Stressed Out Gardener:
1. Spider Milk
2. Flute Peace
3. Starlight
4. Where Is It All Going?
5. Earth From a Distance
6. Nightwaves
7. Plant Music
8. Nothing Is Strange
9. Inner Fire
10. Golden Pear
11. Nightmare Scenario
12. Samurai Sword
13. Water Brother
Pre-order World's Most Stressed Out Gardener.
The record marks the official follow-up to 2017's Light Information, though VanGaalen has released various low-key efforts since then. World's Most Stressed Out Gardener consists of 13 tracks, and it was recorded at VanGaalen's Yoko Eno Studio in Calgary and mastered by Ryan Morey in Montreal.
Of World's Most Stressed Out Gardener, a press release states: "This is a record that gleams with VanGaalen's musical signatures: found sound, reverb, polychromatic folk music that is by turns cartoonish and hyperphysical — like ultra magnified footage of a virus or a leaf."
As for "Samurai Sword," VanGaalen stated, "I had just ripped a bunch of old leaking copper pipe out of my basement in a reno job that I jumped into willy nilly. Realizing how magical the pipes sounded, I put them on some dirty styrofoam and banged out the janky beat that introduces the song! Garbage is life.
"It just spilled out in a couple minutes. I didn't try to stop it because I was smiling like I was just cruising through my neighbourhood. Simple like a sandbox. An ode to the simplicity. It's hard to let things be simple. But simple is easy on the mind, and being jovial in song is something I find really difficult. Why? What?"
Speaking of his animated video, VanGaalen had this to say: "I was drawing black and white plant backgrounds for this song because of the great old samurai movies of the past. I like how nature sometimes takes the lead. I was getting all knotted in my mind about the sky. I looked at my dad's watercolor paintings of a sky, and felt like I couldn't get the feel right. So, I just borrowed his sky for a scene and then I realized that my dad's paintings were perfect and already full of real life energy. I used them to finish the video and felt like we got to go on this quest together. In my mind. Fuck time."
Watch the "Samurai Sword" video below, where you'll also find the album's tracklist.
World's Most Stressed Out Gardener:
1. Spider Milk
2. Flute Peace
3. Starlight
4. Where Is It All Going?
5. Earth From a Distance
6. Nightwaves
7. Plant Music
8. Nothing Is Strange
9. Inner Fire
10. Golden Pear
11. Nightmare Scenario
12. Samurai Sword
13. Water Brother
Pre-order World's Most Stressed Out Gardener.
