Listening to Edena Gardens brand new single “Hidebound” I feel as if I’m being carried away in some cosmic slipstream. It’s a slow drift of a song that lives in glorious 70s Komische light; touches of echoing guitar, psychedelic keys, and a rolling, endless groove of percussion. The cosmos passes by as you stare out your cosmonaut helmet looking into infinity. Hues of black, purple, and gray swirl around with needle head pricks of light for stars blinking as you move along. This is the kind of music you let go and just allow the sound to move you where it may. Stunning.
So who is this Edena Gardnes, anyways? Some hot new psych/prog outfit out of Norway, or southern California? Well depending on what music circles you tend to orbit it’s a psych supergroup of sorts. Nicklas Sørensen(Papir), Martin Rude(Sun River, Rude Skøtt Duo), and Jakob Skøtt(Causa Sui, Syntaks, London Odense Ensemble) have come together to form Edena Gardens, a supergroup in my book that seems to play beautifully off each other’s musical strengths.
On “Hidebound” Sørensen builds momentum with his ever present guitar, filling the space with dreamy, echoed guitar and tasteful lead lines that bring to mind Michael Rother. Nicklas has created a very distinct sound over the years playing with Papir, as well as his Komische-heavy solo records and even a collaborative LP with Jonas Munk. It comes through beautifully here.
Martin Rude is the secret weapon in any project, being a masterful multi-instrumentalist. He fills the gaps with hazy instrumentation and connects the musical dots. A studio wizard in his own right, yet he tends to make that wizardry subtle. Subtle, but without it the balance of the music would change drastically.
And then there’s Causa Sui’s timekeeper himself Jakob Skøtt, taking jazz, psych, and rock drumming and swirling them perfectly together on the canvas to give the proceedings a whole new color. He’s proven himself a formidable drummer on countless Causa Sui albums, as well as a collection of next level synth/drum solo records. And his work with Martin Rude in their duo albums(as well as the Trio record with Tamar Osborn) are all the proof you need that Jakob is up for anything, and ready to do it.
These three musicians coming together under the El Paraiso Records umbrella seemed inevitable, as that’s what the label was founded on: collaboration. The coming together of like-minded artists finding common ground in the studio, locking in, and letting the Muse take them where she may. From the sound of “Hidebound”, I’d say these three locked in and followed the Muse to the stratosphere.
Edena Gardens’ debut drops at the end of October on El Paraiso Records. Get lost in “Hidebound” right now.
Complex Distractions 
so, i kept waiting for it to speed up. it was pretty, but your write-up was prettier! around 5:13 it started to sound a little like Peter Frampton’s “talking” guitar (do you feel like we do). Can you hear it? maybe it’s just me. lol.
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I’ll have to re-listen and see if Frampton is hiding in there. I didn’t catch him first time around. That’s the cool thing about this sort of music, repeated listens reveal all sorts of new layers.
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Man, you keep finding such cool stuff.
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