Listen to the Playlist on Spotify | Listen to the Playlist on YouTube

All of the songs on this playlist were made by, with, or for plants.

The question remains: Why are synth people drawn to plant stuff! Honestly, I don’t know. I think you have artists like Mileece who are creating their own computer software and end up combining data and artistic performance and you also have people who are working with an “unnatural” medium (ex: analog synths) who want to bring something “natural” into their artistic practice. I think its just… vibes.

Also, I dare you to be sad listening to this playlist. It’s delightful.

1. Swingin’ Spathiphllums by Mort Garson. Album: Plantasia. Most of you will know this album – you can’t make a plant-themed playlist without this classic synth album. Subtitled “warm earth music for plants… and the people who love them” and was design to help plants grow. Read more about how this album came to be here.
2. Fern by Mileece. Album: Formations. Mileece is a sonic artist whose practice seeks to “merge art and technology into agnostic mediums that instigate and enliven our human connection with the hidden, living dimensions of nature.”
3. Mushroom Dance by Modern Biology. Album: Mushroom Dance (single). Modern Biology is a Canadian artist who combines bioelectriciy, Indian ragas, and analog synths. “I recorded this track with a red-belted conk – a shelf fungus that was growing on an old fir tree in the forest near my house. I love the idea of composing with decomposers – and took my modular synthesizer setup into the woods for an early spring session. I used the bioelectricity of the mushroom to inform the main synth lead line by using small changes in conductivity to trigger note changes in the synth.”
4. Camping in the Backyard -1 by Skip La Plante. Album: Skip La Plante So yes to brag, but I know Skip. We both attended Composing in the Wilderness in 2019. Skip is one of the original American microtonal composers, with works spanning back decades. He was wonderful to meeting and find out he was a member of one of my favorite chamber ensembles, Gamelan Son of Lion. Skip is also a Frog Peak Composer’s Collective member.
5. Music for Growing Flowers – Pt 2 by Erland Cooper. Album: Music for Growing Flowers. This album is meant “to be listened to while growing your own flowers and plants.” This album was actually a commission to accompany a superbloom event in an urban garden.
6. Seasons by Stevie Wonder. Album: Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. Yes, he’s famous. But this movie came from the book that inspired Plantasia. So. Its on the playlist.
7. Repertoire 65′ Morning Glories by Bottlesmoker. Album: Konser Plantasia. This album was made with plants as the audience members. Yes, this was a pandemic album. And yes, it was inspired by Plantasia.