Martha and the Muffins' Mark Gane's 'Garden Music' is a Meditative Journey Through Sound, Soil, and Sonic Memory

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TORONTO, July 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Mark Gane—co-founder of iconic Canadian band Martha and the Muffins and the mind behind international hit "Echo Beach"—has released his first solo album, Garden Music, a collection of experimental instrumental compositions inspired by plant names and imagined inner worlds. Out now, Garden Music is a sprawling, deeply intuitive project that took shape over decades and now arrives as an ambient, artful meditation on memory, nature, and sound.

The Toronto-based composer, visual artist, and sonic experimenter first began dreaming of Garden Music years ago, spurred by a suggestion from his partner and creative collaborator Martha Johnson. "She said I should do a solo project that combined my three great loves—music, painting, and gardening," Gane explains. "Eventually, I started asking: If plants were people, what would their lives sound like?" That seed grew into a rich, textured album composed from over 50 years of collected studio, field, and found recordings.

Each of the 11 instrumental pieces is named after a common plant—Bee Balm, Feverfew, Creeping Charlie, and the haunting Love Lies Bleeding, which includes the lone sung lyric: "Honey Bee you're gone for good, and so I sing this song…". From miniature sonic sculptures to lush ambient collages, Gane's compositions defy genre and reward close listening. Reviewers called the album "a film that passes before the eyes of our ears" and "a whimsical wander through the landscape of the author's imagination."

Gane recommends listening in the dark, lying down, allowing the music to wash over like dusk wind through lavender. Mixed with Ray Dillard and mastered by Graemme Brown at Zen Mastering, Garden Music is a testament to Gane's lifelong practice across disciplines. His history spans avant-garde performance, collaborations with sonic pioneers like Laurie Anderson and John Oswald, and design work ranging from album art to urban gardens.

Though best known for pop brilliance with Martha and the Muffins—including co-producing albums with Daniel Lanois and David Lord—Garden Music reveals a different Gane: a solitary gardener of sound, sowing strangeness and beauty in equal measure.

For listeners of Brian Eno, Pauline Oliveros, or Boards of Canada—and for anyone who finds solace in the hum of life's quiet corners—Mark Gane's long-awaited solo debut offers a richly immersive world to disappear into.

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Eric Alper
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SOURCE Mark Gane