Los Angeles based ambient outfit, Green-House encourage imagination on their new LP, Hinterlands – a glistening ode to our dwindling natural spaces. In a time of environmental annihilation and overwhelming nihilism, the duo (Olive Ardizoni, Michael Flanagan) conjure faraway paradises as an act of agency – a way to reconnect with the biosphere lying outside of our sprawling urban landscapes.
Green-House have long been inspired by nature – whether it’s the floral microcosms of debut EP, Six Songs for Invisible Gardens, or the recognition of beauty in our urban environments as shown in 2023s A Host for All Kinds of Life. Their first release on new label home, Ghostly International is their fullest body of work yet. Straying from the simplistic ambient label and delving into tropical synth-pop and hypnagogic folk as a method of creating immersive soundscapes for places often only dreamt of by our growing number of city dwellers.
Opening track, ‘Sun Dogs’ recalls Japanese environmental musician, Hiroshi Yoshimura with its underlying pad swells and synthetic kalimba-like plucked tones. Its elements are given plenty of space to breathe, while a soft percussive heartbeat lends a sense of life from the very beginning. Ardizoni leans toward melody, and Flanagan toward harmonics – their ideas spiralling together like strands of DNA, intricately bound into a living whole.
The scenes that make up Hinterlands are inspired by lived experiences, with real emotions of joy and wonderment interwoven with quieter moments of reflection; ‘Sanibel’ conjures the golden beaches of its Florida island namesake – the place Ardizoni believes was her first exposure to exploring nature. Following track, ‘Farewell, Little Island’ borrows its title from a 1987 short animated film, which depicts the drowning of a village by modern technology. Playful guitar samples à la Bibio shift the album’s tone towards something more pastoral – balancing splendour with tragedy.
Folk serves as the project’s backbone, with ‘Hinterland I, II and III’ unfolding like a journey. Part one surveys a wide hilltop, with its pan flutes playing over lo-fi guitar becoming an ode to mountain music. Part two feels contemplative – a look across the viewpoint at the hill’s crest – a building sense of awe as intricate guitar lines are layered. The saga closes with astral synths, arpeggios and subtle percussion; it anticipates all of the places left to explore – like a video game soundtrack that is triggered when stepping out into an open world for the first time.
The final third of the record invokes something more abstract; warbled synths act as blurred memories on the mysterious ‘Well of the World’, with its repetitive cluster of reverb-drenched rhythm eventually giving way to waves of modulating strings – something familiar, but unknown. ‘Bronze Age’ has a haunting quietness to it, a late-night soundtrack to the places forgotten by society. Hinterlands closes on a similar note, as ‘Valley of Blue’ teases a powerful crescendo, before it’s growing cacophony gives way to nostalgic keys that gradually deteriorate back to nothingness.
Hinterlands is a gentle reminder of the profound worry that hides behind wonder for our natural world, and a manifesto for reconnection. Green-House create something much bigger than it’s two parts, an expansive world where intimacy and vastness coexist – inviting the listener to return to the landscapes that sustain us.
Leave a Reply