Garden Gate - Bonfires & Flower Crowns LP

A superb, highly-recommended collection of Garden Gate's two early EPs, Bonfires (2016) and Flower Crowns (2018), alongside bonus tracks, lovingly pressed onto dusty rose vinyl in an edition of 100 copies by German imprint Get Your Genki. The dark psychedelic project of songwriter, producer and visual artist Timmi Meskers, Garden Gate was inaugurated following the closure of the sunshine pop group Brown Recluse, which was active from 2006–12. 

The first side (Bonfires) is an instrumental collection of creeping psychedelia that alternates between beauty and foreboding, conjuring a contemporary folk horror film set somewhere in mid-Atlantic suburbia. The EP was the first of several thematic autumnal releases by Garden Gate, "released in conjunction with the hunter's moon, 2016". (The group's 2017 EP Red Moon and 2022 single Shadows on the Pine were both released on Halloween, while Flower Crowns was released "to coincide with the 2018 autumn equinox".)

On the flip, Flower Crowns showcases some of Garden Gate's most accomplished songwriting on tracks like the minor-key, drum machine-driven "Molting Cobras", the baroque pop of "Sunlight Stole" or the winsome opener "Majick Feast". After being intimately familiar with these tracks for several years, hearing them on vinyl is still a revelation, with the sonic layers that much more present and pleasantly overwhelming. 

This is an import and, once again, limited to 100, so this is probably your best (and only?) chance to order a copy within the United States. Smash that button, you need this!