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Plants
Photosynthesis
SAAH051 CD Only
Release Date: May 15, 2007
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Music by: Joshua Blanchard / Molly Griffith-Blanchard / Jesse Stevens
with: Ben Buehler (recording, bass, voices, percussion,etc ) / Jason Buehler ("piano box" & banjo) / Howard Gillam (electric tones) / Michael Braun-Hamilton (singing saw)

Track Listing: Photosynthesis - Seedling - Seedling 2 - Tumbleweed - Roots - Birdflowers - Seedling 3 - A Hidden World Exposed

Portland, Oregon's Plants are blossoming into one of the most expansive ensembles emanating out of today's psychedelic underground. Formed by the wedded musical partners Joshua and Molly Blanchard to explore delicate acid-folk terrain, Plants have evolved well beyond their sparse and mystical roots to sail along a rich and diverse confluence of mind-enhancing streams. 2006 bore witness to a trilogy of recordings, from the quivering folk of their debut The Mind is a Bird in the Hand (Audio Dregs) to music captured in yurts and bunkers along the Oregon coast (Totem CDR, Audio Dregs) and the pillow-prog odyssey Double Infinity. Reaching deep within, Plants unfurl Photosynthesis, a haunting foray into gently rippling netherworlds.

Aptly named, Photosynthesis illustrates the subtle skill in which Plants extract and blend a variety of sounds to concoct a heady elixir of minimalist psychedelia. A rotating cast of support for the husband and wife core offers a diverse array of instrumentation, including acoustic/electric guitars, cello, singing saw, organ, electric tones, and a guest appearance from Jason Buehler of the band Nice Nice on banjo and "piano box". Gently swirled together, Plants invoke images of a quiet solstice ritual involving early Popol Vuh, the fusion-folk of C.O.B., and a flower-powered, V.U.-era John Cale. Haunting and ethereal, Photosynthesis is a fresh new perspective from the West Coast folk-psych scene.

"By combining the sounds of old-school heads like Love and Donovan with the modern tape-damaged murk of Akron/Family and Ariel Pink, Plants have carved a nice little home for stoner-nerd bliss." -CMJ

"A warm haze of acoustic-based psychedelia. Those still wary of too much hippie in their folk diet need not fear, for like all the best of the new crop, Plants play it weird." -The Stranger

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Guitarist/vocalist Joshua Blanchard was a member of the avant-pop Point Line Plane (Skin Graft Records) and hallucinatory electronauts Mome Raths
Multi-instrumentalist Molly Blanchard is classically trained in medieval music and harpsichord, and has collaborated with Portland notables The Decemberists and 31Knots
Guest appearance by Jason Buheler of Warp Records & Temporary Residence Ltd. recording artists Nice Nice
Packaging: Full color 4-panel digipak
Press: Willamette Week, Audiversity, Portland Mercury
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