With slightly more than a handful of releases to his credit, Texas native
Spencer Stephenson has covered a vast, impressive array of musical ground with his work as
Botany. Integrating live instrumentation and dusty samples, his compositional techniques are informed by hip-hop and beat-heavy electronic music, but they reference spiritual jazz, psychedelic folk, ambient, and numerous other styles. His work varies from the more rhythmic, pulsating tracks of 2013's Lava Diviner (Truestory) to the free-flowing washes of sound heard on 2016's
Deepak Verbera, but it's always conscious, uplifting, and organic.
Originally from northern Texas,
Stephenson started experimenting with music production as a teenager, inspired by
Four Tet,
Madlib,
J Dilla, and others. He began sharing his music online in 2008, and his first EP,
Feeling Today, was released by Austin-based Western Vinyl in 2010. A bit more poppy than some of his later releases, the recording featured vocalist Ashley Rathburn.
Botany remixed artists such as
Ryat and
Cuushe and produced a track on
Lushlife's 2012 album,
Plateau Vision. After relocating to a farm outside Austin,
Stephenson recorded his full-length debut, Lava Diviner (Truestory), which appeared in 2013.
Dimming Awe, the Light Is Raw, one of the most hip-hop-oriented
Botany releases, appeared in 2015 as a limited LP; guests included rapper
Milo and Leaving Records founder
Matthewdavid.
In 2016,
Botany released
Deepak Verbera, a surprising excursion into cosmic music and free jazz, channeling artists such as
Alice Coltrane and
Popol Vuh. Raw Light II, a digital companion release to
Dimming Awe, appeared in 2017.
Stephenson and
Lushlife formed a duo called
the Skull Eclipses, debuting with "Totality Piece," which featured
Mary Lattimore. The project's self-titled debut arrived in 2018, followed by a limited, mainly instrumental cassette called Penumbras.
Botany returned in 2020, first with a 30-minute ambient piece titled "Fourteen 45 Tails," as well as an EP of sketches named Phone Ideas. Full-length
End the Summertime F(or)ever, a psychedelic beat collage touching on house and new age, landed in 2020. ~ Paul Simpson