Vancouver dream pop act Gal Gracen have released a few EPs and singles over the years, and now they're set to drop their debut album. Fantasy Gardens is due out on August 16 via JAZ Records, and Exclaim! has the premiere of the single "Arcadia."
Band leader Patrick Geraghty recorded the songs with Jo Hirabayashi (of Jo Passed), with mixing handled by David Parry (of Loving). It was made over the course of three years, mostly in Vancouver and with additional tracking in Ho Chi Minh City and on Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu.
An announcement describes the album as "a collection of elysian pop ballads dressed in a new age aesthetic that ponder the nature of romanticism in the human world." The name comes from a defunct amusement park in British Columbia that was at the centre of a political scandal in the 1990s. Influences include AM pop, krautrock, surf rock and Enya.
Listen to the twinkling, dream-like pop balled "Arcadia" below. Scroll past that to see the Fantasy Gardens tracklist, plus Gal Gracen's upcoming tour schedule.
Fantasy Gardens:
1. Arcadia
2. Grass Mask
3. She's the Queen
4. Today or Tomorrow
5. Deep Prismatic Wave
6. Winds of Solace, Pillars of Sand
7. From Time to Time
8. Is It Alive?
9. Montana
10. Orffesque Redux
Tour dates:
06/24 Vancouver, BC - The Avant-Garden *
07/13 Vancouver, BC - 1215 W 10 Ave (garden party) ^
08/17 Vancouver, BC - Static Jupiter (album release show) ~
* with Lev Snowe, Super Budget
^ with Sigh, Wut, Hazy
~ with Loving, Neptune's Daydream
Band leader Patrick Geraghty recorded the songs with Jo Hirabayashi (of Jo Passed), with mixing handled by David Parry (of Loving). It was made over the course of three years, mostly in Vancouver and with additional tracking in Ho Chi Minh City and on Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu.
An announcement describes the album as "a collection of elysian pop ballads dressed in a new age aesthetic that ponder the nature of romanticism in the human world." The name comes from a defunct amusement park in British Columbia that was at the centre of a political scandal in the 1990s. Influences include AM pop, krautrock, surf rock and Enya.
Listen to the twinkling, dream-like pop balled "Arcadia" below. Scroll past that to see the Fantasy Gardens tracklist, plus Gal Gracen's upcoming tour schedule.
Fantasy Gardens:
1. Arcadia
2. Grass Mask
3. She's the Queen
4. Today or Tomorrow
5. Deep Prismatic Wave
6. Winds of Solace, Pillars of Sand
7. From Time to Time
8. Is It Alive?
9. Montana
10. Orffesque Redux
Tour dates:
06/24 Vancouver, BC - The Avant-Garden *
07/13 Vancouver, BC - 1215 W 10 Ave (garden party) ^
08/17 Vancouver, BC - Static Jupiter (album release show) ~
* with Lev Snowe, Super Budget
^ with Sigh, Wut, Hazy
~ with Loving, Neptune's Daydream