Cosmic Garden Project | Interview | New Album, ‘The Green Reverb’
In a world where music often acts as a haven amidst life’s chaos, the latest offering from Cosmic Garden Project, ‘The Green Reverb,’ emerges as a sanctuary of auditory delight.
The debut album of Cosmic Garden Project, founded in 2019 by Per Svensson (known for The New Alchemy, The Kingdom of Evol), Dan Söderqvist (from Älgarnas Trädgård, Twice a Man), and Pontus Torstensson (from Tentakel, The Exorcist GBG), is titled ‘The Green Reverb’. With its seamless fusion of electronic, ambient, and experimental elements, this album invites listeners on a transcendent voyage through lush soundscapes and ethereal melodies. As I immersed myself in the captivating world of ‘The Green Reverb,’ I was captivated by its ability to evoke a sense of awe and self-reflection. Each track serves as a gateway to new realms, beckoning exploration and revelation with every sound.
“…mantra music, free improvisation, to connect with the spirits of nature”
What initiated the Cosmic Garden Project?
Per Svensson: We wanted to create something new together: a sound art collective, free imagination, mantra music, free improvisation, to connect with the spirits of nature.
In 2018-2019, after my solo exhibition Alchemy – The All-Seeing Eye [Alkemi – Det Allseende Ögat] at Färgfabriken and at Röda Sten Konsthall in Gothenburg, Dan Söderqvist and I decided to meet for a beer at a place called Tullen on 2nd Långgatan close to Masthugget. I brought Dan my exhibition book Alchemy-Art-Architecture. Dan had a favorite watercolor drawing of mine he showed me. Enclosed is the one entitled Cosmic Garden.
We talked about starting something and making new music and visuals into one project together someday. Dan was longing to play guitar again the way he did in Älgarnas Trädgård in the 70s. I told Dan I could play the bass and do some poetry. I recommended adding drummer Pontus Torstensson from my band Per Svensson Psychedelic Sounds. I remember we talked a lot about Alchemy and about environmental effects on the planet, about mysticism, and Dan came up with Viriditas and the ‘Green Reverb’ was initiated. In the fall of 2019, we met up and started to improvise and recorded the first two tracks on the 2LP: Towards the Blue Peninsula and Fields of Fungus.
Dan Söderqvist: As there will be a second part of this interview, where I will describe my musical background, I will only make some reflections concerning the process of creating ‘The Green Reverb’. Field recordings have been an important part of the sound work, partly recorded during the sessions at Silence Studio in Koppom, Värmland. I would emphasize the listening attitude toward natural sounds, to communicate with these sounds and make them, so to speak, lead us into poetic awareness. There are some layers of music and sounds that are added after the initial improvised sessions. There are, in fact, a lot of software instruments hidden in the mix. The lyrics and the titles of the songs set the imagination on the journey and apart from nature, there are inspirations from other sources. For the Cosmic Garden Project, the most important for me have been the artists Joseph Cornell and Ithell Colquhoun, the books To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Phantastes by George MacDonald, True Hallucinations by Terence McKenna, and the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. Musically, I wanted to get back to my roots of flimsy folk psychedelia I made in my first band Älgarnas Trädgård in the early 70s. I made a change in music when punk came across in 1976-77, and I started to make mainly electronic music in the band Cosmic Overdose, which became Twice a Man. Apart from vocals and guitar, I concentrated on synths, samplers, effects, etc., and later making ambient music for theater and other soundtrack-related work, mostly in a computer environment. After 40 years, I had a longing to play in a band that was playing instruments live together instead of layering tracks in software programs. I also like that there are two different voices telling the stories. Per’s and my voices are different, and they complement each other in a great way. The title ‘The Green Reverb’ is a metaphor that nature sings back to us if we are listening, that we are surrounded by a friendly being and that we have to be in balance with nature to not lose our soul.
Where did you originally meet Dan Söderqvist?
Per: We had bumped into each other in the mid-’80s, but never worked together before. The first time I heard Dan Söderqvist’s music was at Ny Scen in Gothenburg in 1982 or 1983. The music was called The Sound of a Goat in a Room. We had seen each other at live gigs in the mid-’80s. We were both artists at the underground record label Radium 226.05 in Gothenburg. Dan released stuff with Twice a Man, and I released my first poetry and sound art on vinyl in 1987. Radium arranged parties with live acts at Södra Allégatan in the old swimming hall (Renströmska Badanstalten) there. Later in the summer of 2012, I met Dan at the Stockholm Music and Arts Festival. I played guitar in The Kingdom of Evol featuring Freddie Wadling, and we met up with Dan Söderqvist and Jenny Eve van den Arend backstage, who filmed the concert and made a live YouTube video. Freddie Wadling sadly passed away in 2016. The Kingdom of Evol made two albums and one EP.
“We work with improvisation as the foundation in both the music and the art created”
You work under the concept of an art collective based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Could you tell us what all that involves?
Per: In the Cosmic Garden Project, we work with improvisation as the foundation in both the music and the art created, which manifests as soundscapes or visual landscapes—places to explore. Poetry remains the driving force, along with imagination, the mystery of tales and fables, and even elements of science fiction.
In our music, Alchemy and Shamanism serve as sources of inspiration, guiding the journey of the soul and evoking a sense of travel through sound. Each newly created track embodies a certain visuality, a “sense of place,” and encapsulates a poetic condition or essence of our spirit.
Together, we engage in improvisation, and thus, the journey begins. We sketch new drawings of places on the map we’ve collectively drawn, both musically and visually. This is how I created the artwork for this 2LP.
In a sense, we create visual sound images for every track. We draw inspiration from films like Stalker and Solaris by Tarkovsky, as well as poets like Rimbaud.
“We have a fresh vision for this project”
The project is now around four years old, as you started to improvise at the end of 2019. I would love to hear what the overall vision is for the project?
Per: With this double album ‘The Green Reverb’ laying down our foundation and pathways to new imaginary soundscapes and places, we have a fresh vision for this project: to record a new album together that describes new places on the map we’ve drawn, or to create an extended map that ventures into other dimensions. Additionally, we aim to involve more new musicians to expand the Cosmic Garden Project into a larger collective family. Hopefully, we can record this new album at Silence Records and Studios in Koppom again, with the legendary sound engineer Anders Lind.
‘The Green Reverb’ is such a fantastic double album, a true journey. Would you mind sharing some further words about it and its creation and the ideas behind it?
Per: We simply improvised music and made the pieces long, like a journey, more like mantras, not knowing where it would end, or just allowing the music to flow until we began to envision landscapes, creatures, or places. Poetry emerged from these new places—images, words, tales—connecting us to nature and Mother Earth.
For me, primarily working with visuals, I must say this project is one of a kind. It has allowed me to create both poetry, sound, and art in one piece, alongside eminent collaborators: Dan Söderqvist, Pontus Torstensson, and also with Lisen Rylander Löve and Rasmus Alkestrand. Meeting Anders Lind at Silence Studio in Koppom felt like coming home, to a forest with no end.
Are you planning to play some gigs as the Cosmic Garden Project?
Per: Oh yes! We already played a short release gig at Folkteatern in Gothenburg on December 21, 2023. The next gig is on March 21st at Rönnells in Stockholm, serving as an extended release of the double album. Following that, we intend to make plans for larger gigs and festivals.
Would you like to share about your upbringing? Where did you all grow up? Tell us about daily life back in your teenage years.
Per: I grew up on Green Street 27 in Gothenburg, and during my teenage years, I attended school and played guitar in different bands. I spent a lot of time drawing and writing. I attended art school at Schillerska in 1983 and later pursued studies at the Art Academy of Stockholm from 1985 to 1990.
Was there a certain scene you were part of, maybe you had some favorite hangout places? Did you attend a lot of gigs back then?
Per: At that time, I was part of the Post-Prog, Post-Punk Scene, including Sprängkullen and Garageligan. I used to go see bands at venues like Rockers, Draupner, Errols, Kåren, and later at Nefertiti, as well as at Radium Parties at Renströmska Badet. My favorite hangout spot was Mosters Café in Haga.
If we were to step into your teenage room, what kind of records, fanzines, posters, etc., would we find there?
Per: I remember having a black poster of K.U.K.L. from seeing them in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1984, and a silvery poster of Nico on the wall; I had seen her three times. First in Newcastle in 1982, later in Gothenburg at Kåren in 1985, and in Stockholm in 1986 at Glädjehuset. I had a collection of post-punk singles, including Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart,’ K.U.K.L., Cortex’s ‘Spinal Injuries,’ and The Sound, as well as Beatles and Doors records from my uncle Tommy, who gave me a record player in a suitcase when I was 10.
Tell us about some of the early involvements with music. You began in a punk band called Rabies back in the mid-’80s?
Per: Initially, we had the name Rabies and recorded only one cassette tape, although it was a full album, on my cassette recorder. We didn’t have the money to make a record. This stuff is not yet released on vinyl. The sound is too bad, mono, too noisy.
When did you begin experimenting with sound?
Per: I began experimenting with sound when I got my Philips cassette recorder D6310 with batteries in 1979 and later bought an electric guitar with amplifier headphones from the Hobbex catalogue. Initially, I was recording feedback and vocals, experimenting with a microphone. I started recording all kinds of stuff, including field recordings of birds, flies, ocean waves, radio waves, etc. I still record on cassette but with my Yamaha MT8X Portable Cassette Recorder, which has 8 channels. I started to write and record sound and poetry compositions in 1985 and made my first studio recording in 1986 at Music a Matik studio in Gothenburg with Henryk Lipp. I later joined Fylkingen in 1998 and recorded at EMS Stockholm, where I met a lot of talented sound people like Leif Elggren, Kent Tankred, Torbjörn Abelli, Bo Hansson, Mats Gustafsson, CMvH, and Jean Louis Huhta.
It’s pretty impossible to cover everything you were involved with, but it would be fantastic if you could share about the projects like Audio Laboratory, Autosound, Fusebox Overflow, Riis And The Smooth Ones, Shovelhead 3DMC*, The Kingdom Of Evol, The New Alchemy, White Stains, and how that brings us to your latest two albums ‘Gothenburg Sounds’ and ‘Magic Trip’?
Per: In a way, all the people I have worked with in music over the years have helped me grow as a musician. Developing your sensitivity and your ability to improvise and to listen. To make new compositions and lyrics. To grow. I joined Garageligan at Sprängkullen in Gothenburg in the 80’s and listened to a lot of bands. Then I concentrated my time on art studies between 1985-1990. In 1987, I released my first solo sound art and poetry recording. In 1989, Gold played at CBGB’s and went on tour in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, playing at Ecstasy Club in Berlin with UCP. In 1991, I recorded with GOLD the album ‘Magic Power’ and played some guitar with White Stains on the album ‘Dreams shall Flesh’. Between 1993 and 1998, I lived and worked in Värmland and formed the 3-piece band Shovelhead in Torsby, and we made recordings at Smedjan on cassette; we later changed the name to Fusebox Overflow, also only on tape and CD. Riis and the Smooth Ones was a project in Skåne with Mats Gustafsson on sax and Jacob Riis on electronics released on a Flexi. In 1997, Henrik Rylander and I founded Audio Laboratory with Ebbot Lundberg and Jean Louis Huhta. Audio Laboratory made only live performances and played industrial noise and sound art at festivals such as Arvika festivalen 1998, M/S Stubnitz, 1998, Fylkingen, 1990. Perspectives Festival Västerås 2004, GAS Festivalen 2005. Audio Laboratory made a live album in 2003 on Firework Edition. Still, some live gigs are unreleased yet. The New Alchemy was formed by myself and Ebbot Lundberg in 2003. We made 3 albums together and have a record waiting to be mixed and mastered. On the other Side of Light was released in 2013 and got great reviews all over the globe. We still do gigs together, the latest in 2023. The Kingdom of Evol released 2 albums and one EP and played Stockholm Music and Arts Festival and Way Out West. Sadly, Freddie passed away in 2016 and the band too. Autosound released an album in 2019 and made some gigs and a new album recorded in 2022, still not mixed and mastered. Waiting. Working with different musicians and constellations creates a new sound. All experimentation and improvisation have been my school and for the development and creation of my latest albums ‘Gothenburg Sounds and Magic Trip’ and of course The Cosmic Garden Project – ‘The Green Reverb’!
What are some future plans?
Per: Working on a new album with Per Svensson Psychedelic Sounds, songs I recorded at Hansa Studios in Berlin 2023 is out in 2024. To be released in 2024 is also another album with a band called GOLD, also recorded in 2023. The new album with GOLD is now being mastered in Stockholm. Planning some new art exhibitions now, one in Sweden and one in Berlin TBA. Hope to be playing live with Cosmic Garden Project more and to record new material in Silence Studio in Spring.
Let’s end this interview with some of your favorite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
Per: Nico – ‘Chelsea Girls,’ International Harvester – ‘Sov Gott Rose Marie,’ Bo Hansson – ‘Sagan om Ringen,’ The Stooges – ‘Fun House,’ K.U.K.L. – ‘The Eye,’ Hawkwind – ‘Warrior on the Edge of Time,’ Träd Gräs och Stenar – ‘Hemlösa Katter,’ PJ Harvey – ‘Is This Desire?,’ GOAT – ‘Medicine’. I was fortunate to meet up with a band called Tusmörke from Norway during the Psykstämman Festival where we played with Per Svensson Psychedelic Sounds this Summer at Brännö outside Gothenburg. I have heard their album ‘Hestehoven’ and it’s great.
Thank you. Last word is yours.
Per: Stop the War! Madness, madness of War. Stop the destruction of the Earth. Stop environmental pollution! Believe in your Spirit and Mother Nature. Make music to heal your Souls. Freak on and Peace out!
Klemen Breznikar
Cosmic Garden Project Facebook / Bandcamp
Kommun2 Official Website
Sound Effect Records Official Website / Facebook
‘The Green Reverb’ by Cosmic Garden Project
‘Together in the Darkness’ & ‘Magic Fingers’ by Per Svensson Psychedelic Sounds | New Album, ‘Magic Trip’
