Gardens & Villa Band Interview: Naturally Mystical (w/ Lyrical Analysis)

“To me, a born-and-raised Californian, the forest of Oregon has a heavenly, Garden of Eden, sacred feel,” explains vocalist and guitarist Christopher Lynch. “It was a major force behind ‘Black Hills’ and some of the other tracks.”

“The lyrics are mostly for me, and anyone who wants to dive deeply into my weird world… like how John Lennon used to tell everyone that all his lyrics were just gibberish,” explains Lynch, who goes back and forth regularly on the idea of “mystery versus transparency” in song lyrics. He cites Sigur Rós as a band for which mystery works; their Icelandic and sometimes language-defying lyrical content play a secondary role to their lush instrumentation and associated imagery.

“I like it when lyrics are not easy to make out or understand in the first couple listens,” continues Lynch, “because it opens up the listener more to the vibe and emotion of the melodies, vowel sounds, and diction.”

Gardens & Villa focus heavily on capturing these moods, and even the album’s press release expounds on logistics and musical comparisons rather than on lyrical content. Rest assured, though; such decisions are wholly intentional.

“There would not be enough room in a press release to sufficiently expound on or describe them,” Lynch supposes, making it clear that Gardens & Villa‘s shiny pop veneer betrays the depth of its content.

It is only when one really begins to deconstruct the lyrics that a fascinating underlying thread begins to reveal itself.

Discovering A Hidden Narrative

Take, for instance, the surprising nature of even the album’s most in-your-face dance tracks. “Thorn Castles” features an acoustic guitar, sunshine-laden melody, and bounce-in-your-step rhythm, but gives wide-eyed descriptions of magic and miracle. Over a disco beat, “Star Fire Power” relays hushed references to “shooting stars” and “fire power,” while “Spacetime” playfully explores the malleable nature of the space-time continuum. Even at their most flamboyant, Gardens & Villa explore unconventional themes that would never cross the minds of many.

“A lot of my songwriting comes from a desire to open myself up to nature and the universe, experiences with love, my subconscious, childhood memories, imagination and various cocktails of each,” reveals Lynch. “I guess these are reflections of my larger life philosophies, but not in a concrete way.”

In fact, none of the lyrics on Gardens & Villa are particularly concrete. Though Lynch is quick to say that though he does not follow any specific meta-narratives or doctrines, his curiosity of philosophical and spiritual ideas shines through. The entirety of Gardens & Villa is a cryptic blend of philosophy and memoir, with content converging from varying places and spaces.

“Sometimes [the songs were] sporadic creations, other times calculated, and sometimes directly inspired,” says Lynch. “All came with a different feel and color.”

Like the morning sun rising over the horizon, a progression of synth and scat singing slowly brings Gardens & Villa into sight. Opener “Black Hills” begins the journey with descriptions of mankind scaling mountaintops and witnessing the rising of the seas — only to eventually submerge themselves in water to be “baptized.” “Cruise Ship” follows, inviting listeners to take their wives and children onto the cruise ship because “that’s how God made us to live.”

While these lyrics can certainly be taken at face value — and may even recall the band’s experiences bathing in frigid rivers — they are, more importantly, symbolic. The album’s many references to water parallel with well-known ideologies and parables. Just as Siddhartha found enlightenment at the banks of a river; just as one is baptized to be saved; just as John Lennon sings, “Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream” — so are Gardens & Villa doing. They are not floating down a river in a literal sense, but in a whimsical sense; they are taking a plunge into life’s flow, by living to the fullest and by pursuing their passions. And, in the opening tracks of the album, they are boldly inviting listeners to do the same.

Ancient as well as personal wisdom abounds on Gardens & Villa, and there are certainly profound lessons shared. By their very nature, though, the emotions, memories, and concepts the band attempts to document are difficult to distill into words.

“The album document[s] a love story… and a period of growth, but not overtly,” explains Lynch.

Towards the end of the record, Lynch speaks less of abstract concepts and begins to recall memories with poetic jargon. In “Carizzo Plain,” the line, “You and I are intertwined,” seems to describe two yin and yang halves cosmically woven up into one another. “Neon Dove,” the album’s last track, references a lover’s “cosmic touch” and symbolic return. Together, the tracks offer a satisfying, romantic conclusion to a record that seems to document an epic adventure — one which all began because the band decided to swim in life’s waters. From there, all things became enlightened; they experienced the magic of the universe in its limitless forms and learned the benefits of accepting circumstances both positive and negative.

Finding Answers Within

Despite how remarkably cohesive the album’s narrative thread is, its track sequence was chosen mostly “for [its] sonic relationships.” Its lyrical continuity was not even considered, and it is only over time that the power of its narrative has become evident.

“More and more, as I become familiar with it, I feel like there may indeed be a strong flow and story within the lyrics as well — maybe corresponding to the sounds and vibe,” muses Lynch. “Anyway, it was not completely intentional… but maybe subconsciously [and] sonically-driven.”

The record’s lyrical and musical cohesion becomes less of a surprise when one considers Gardens & Villa’s relationship to their collective subconscious. Decision-making is an exercise highly rooted in the band members’ intuitions, and Gardens & Villa seem to live by the philosophies they celebrate in their music. In “Star Fire Power,” Lynch repeats the word “intuition” like a mantra, only to conclude that following it leads to fruition.

“Intuition plays a major part in creating songs, vocal melodies, business choices, lyrics, pretty much everything,” says Lynch. “Vibe is maybe the most important thing to us when it comes to music-making and decisions.”

Rather than relying exclusively on cold, hard logic, Gardens & Villa have opted to place their trust in these more elusive creatures. Luckily, their instincts have led them to a satisfying and fruitful place, indeed.

“I believe that in my mind there is a constant oscillation between feelings and reason and things that appear as truths and others as falsehood. It is like a sea with waves and wind and calm and sun and kelp. Perspectives change and objects change color,” says Lynch. “Your intuition can be like a boat that you can navigate with. I think it will usually take you where are supposed to be.”

Q&A

What do you think about the resurgence of psychedelic music and imagery? Do you think it has impacts for the near future?
I think the return of psychedelia could be a natural step in the development of 21st century culture. We are curiously exploring our minds and our connection to nature/the universe. In a way, the ’60s began a cultural movement which yearns to fill a void which science and modern Christianity (and their ongoing war) have created (in America). We are extremely spiritual beings who have inherited a spiritually dead culture. I think that through trial and error we are in the process of building and synthesizing a new myth which could help guide us through the new paradigm. My biggest hope is that we rediscover and use the wisdom of the ancients. Everything has been done and thought of before — and if not in actual traditions and texts, it is all around us in patterns and sounds and miracles.

What is the best piece of advice you would give to those wishing to pursue a fulfilling life?
Spend lots of time gardening. Seriously.

Ω

“Natures of your kind, with strong, delicate senses, the soul-oriented, the dreamers, poets, lovers are almost always superior to us creatures of the mind. You take your being from your mothers. You live fully; you were endowed with the strength of love, the ability to feel. Whereas we creatures of reason, we don’t live fully; we live in an arid land even though we often seem to guide and rule you. Yours is the plenitude of life, the sap of the fruit, the garden of passion, the beautiful landscape of art. Your home is the earth; ours is the word of ideas. You are in danger of drowning in the world of the senses; ours is the danger of suffocating in an airless void. You are an artist; I am a thinker. You sleep at the mother’s breast; I wake in the desert. For me the sun shines; for you the moon and the stars.”
— Hermann Hesse, Narcisuss And Goldmund

www.gardensandvilla.com + gardensandvilla.bandcamp.com