One of my more recent musical infatuations has come in the form of ambient music, more specifically, A Host for All Kinds of Life (2023) by Green-House; I am drawn to the idea of exploring the color palette of music and using it more as an extensive tool for imagination and emotional experiences.
Introducing Green-House
Green-House, an eco-ambient music project created by Olive Ardizoni, released A Host for All Kinds of Life in 2023. Now joined by Michael Flannagan, Green-House dropped their most recent album on the tails of their debut, Six Songs for Invisible Gardens (2020), and their 2021 album Music for Living Spaces. Primarily focused on plant and non-human life and the present beauty and joy it brings to our world. The music of Green-House encompasses the listener in pillow-like cradles of smooth synths and atmospheric soundscapes. Additionally, they present interesting melodic lines and well-composed concepts that feel more like a type of synthesized classical music. It’s far more than simple meditative meanderings.
An evolved sound
Further playing on the themes of their previous album, Music for Living Spaces explores the concept of lived-in rooms housing life on a day-to-day basis. Host is a far more critical collection of songs. Firstly, they examine the man-made climate crisis and the feeling of sadness and longing for the natural environment as it deteriorates.
Thus, this “solastalgia” is referenced in the caption of a pinned post on their Instagram. It heralds the release of the album, begging the question;
“How can we mourn (or even sense the loss of) that which we have never known? Especially for lifelong urbanites estranged from nature, who nevertheless grasp the severity and complexity of the problem—how might they remember?” (@kenotic.youth, via @green_house1976, 2023).
In turn, it’s something of an attempt at an answer. The album seeks to construct a musical landscape reminiscent of the natural beauty of the world made accessible to the average urban music listener.
The musical landscape
The songs come together on the album to weave a cohesive listening experience. They establish the eco-centered concepts of appreciating the natural world in the spaces of urban human settlement. In effect, names like “Lichen Maps,” “Ferndell Shade,” and “Coquina” establish themes and set pieces of nature. Then, in modern human contexts that permeate the aesthetic of the album. The music radiates the kind of atmospheric yet intimate soundscapes. Likewise, they envelop you in the contained world of the album with a variety of synth voices, piano riffs, and orchestrations.
Songs like “Desire Path” feature repetitive and mysterious arpeggios. “Luna Clipper” showcases melancholy and haunting, quirky melodies. Together, they paint vivid landscapes and usher the imagination to places of wonder and reflection. Title track, “A Host for All Kinds of Life,” offers a smorgasbord of synth lines over a repeating keyboard riff. One riff is a synthesized brass solo reminiscent of something out of a pre-Dark Side of the Moon era Pink Floyd album.
A treat for introspection
“Everything is Okay” follows as a tender and gentle meditation of home, love and comfort. Listeners are treated to airy, syncopated melodic lines followed by an isolated, slightly warbled acoustic piano that sounds like one someone might have in their living room or den, safe sheltered, and cozy. A recording of a missed call voicemail of Ardizoni’s mother plays as the music fades out. The song is coming to a close as she says “you are the most important. Alright, love you. Bye.” The only spoken words on the album, they bring a reassuring feeling of comfort and peace.
To marry the human and the natural
A Host for All Kinds of Life breaks us out of the confines of the separation of human lives and nature. Ambitious and beautiful, Host creates an unforgettable listening experience that is both meditative and adventurous. It sends the listener on a journey of inner exploration and the patient’s outward appreciation of the natural world.
This album is an attempt to reunify our relationship to non-human life and the duty we have to appreciate it everywhere. This includes appreciation in what could be seen as a cold human dwelling like a major city. We are challenged to find joy in life whenever and wherever we can. Hopefully and optimistically, we will move towards a recognition of the relationship between humans and non-human life on the planet, a “host for all kinds of life.”
I'm a writer, musician, photographer, aspiring educator and grad student based out of Houston, TX. After a bachelor's from UH and current undertaking of the online English Master's program at A&M Corpus Christi, I am looking to build my writing portfolio and write about life, music, and philosophy in the city I call home. I am also the guitarist, singer and one of the songwriters for the band Juvenoia. Mostly, you'll find me reading, playing music, exploring, trying to kick doom scrolling habits or hanging with friends and family. I've found in pursuing the big adventures that the little moments in everyday life are worth cherishing, the interactions with people, the smell of a local coffee shop, the peace of a walk outside, and of course, never underestimate the joy of learning something new. There's plenty to miss out on, but that means there's also plenty to appreciate right at home. God Bless.
