After recording in
Starfucker's home city of Portland, Oregon,
Gardens & Villa released their debut album on
Yeasayer's label Secretly Canadian, and coincidentally,
Gardens & Villa sound a lot like a cross between those two groups. Similarly, Levi Hayden, Shane McKillop, Adam Rasmussen, and Chris Lynch make warm indie pop with airy falsettos and retro synths. It’s a tranquil listen, even when a picnic song like the chillwavey “Orange Blossom,” with its pseudo-sexy hook “Think of me like a swarm of bees/Circling around your knees/To pollinate means ecstasy,” gives way into the chugging acoustics of “Thorn Castles,” a jam that's brisk enough for a jog on the beach. References to the outdoors are peppered all over the album -- from “Black Hills” to "Carrizo Plain"-- and this naturalist theme, combined with the digital production, gives the record a nice sense of balance, even if it sometimes lacks originality. ~ Jason Lymangrover