Plant Lab by Plant Lab

The idea for Plant Lab was planted a little earlier in the decade, as collaborators Owen Whitcomb and Brenan Chambers accumulated hours together on a variety of Seattle projects. But after more than four years of tinkering, their self-titled debut is a baroque epic that never feels weighed down by craftsmanship or nostalgia. Some comparisons are obvious, Dungen for example, but the two were also heavily influenced by nature films and soundtrack composers like Sven Libaek. Slowly built out from a series of demos, circa 2015, Whitcomb and Chambers recorded across Seattle "on as many pianos as we could get ahold of." Paired with a colorful VHS companion courtesy of artist Paul Siple and beautiful j-card by Dylan McConnell, Plant Lab is an absorbing first release.

"For every layer you peel away there seem to be more textures underneath . . . their self-titled album is a kaleidoscopic collage of sounds both warm and chilling." -Record Turnover

"Plant Lab is a band that takes the raw elements of things we’ve heard before and completely upends our assumptions about how they can be combined, and fashions one of the most interesting listens of 2020 so far." -Beats Per Minute

"...Plant Lab, is the music of my inner soul, with the duo’s explorations of polychrome polyphony pulling my mind to all time favorites such as The Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System, The Amorphous Androgynous, The Pretty Things, and the wilder and more library oriented sides of Broadcast." -The Sun Lounge

"...despite so many elements converging somehow everything just seems to work. The 100’s of twists and turns here align as blistering sonic statements – nothing feels less than vital." -Obladada

"It has a green shell." -Tabs Out Podcast

All songs by Owen Whitcomb and Brenan Chambers

Max Mendizabl plays on "Grand Hall," "Max," "Baroque," and "Ancients"

Nich Wilbur engineered parts of "Choral" and "Bubblegum Sun" at The Unknown in Ana Cortes, WA

Visual album produced by Paul Siple with logo animations by Travis Wagoner

Product photos by Emily Dodson and Brenan Chambers

Tracklist

1.	Ancients, Part 1	1:08

2.	Grand Hall	4:56

3.	Lucidity	2:23

4.	Choral	5:21

5.	Ancients, Part 2	0:41

6.	Max	3:20

7.	Plants Don't Grow	5:14

8.	Ancients, Part 3	0:30

9.	Bubblegum Sun	3:50

10.	Baroque	4:43

11.	Weather Frequencies	2:09

12.	Highway Scenery	3:11

13.	Fable	1:47

14.	The Unremarkable 60s	4:23

15.	Ancients, Part 4	1:52

Credits

released April 10, 2020

License

CC BY-NC 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.