REset, adaptogenic music derived entirely from plants, by PLANT VOX out now via Platoon
PLANT VOX - REset
out today via Platoon
REset is a 43 minute piece of ambient and adaptogenic music that is entirely derived from plants
As featured on BBC Radio 6 Music's Craig Charles Show, BBC Radio 4's Today Show, BBC Radio 3's Saturday Morning Show
PLANT VOX, the new offering from Oram Award winning composer and sonic innovator Helen Anahita Wilson, is an extraordinary and progressive project which sees the joining together of nature with Western and Indian classical music techniques.
PLANT VOX is a ground-breaking adaptogenic music project. Released today via Platoon, 'REset' is a long-form piece of reflective ambient music, that is entirely derived from plants. Combining recordings and biodata from specifically chosen medicinal and adaptogenic plants, PLANT VOX recordings elicit a profound meditative effect that goes deeper than traditional meditation or ‘healing’ music. A soundtrack for a hectic travel day, an accompaniment to yoga practice, a tool for meditation or a moment of REset in a busy day - PLANT VOX is a versatile musical tool for well-being and focus.
Expertly integrating the active voices of Passion Flower, Ashwagandha, Valerian, Fennel, Rosemary, Lavender, and Lemon Balm — all plants associated with rest and relaxation — the piece, REset, takes listeners on a 43-minute journey of reset, transitioning from an active brain state to deep rest and back to grounded readiness. An experienced meditator, Wilson was inspired to create a piece of music centred around deep relaxation, sleep improvement, and the essential connection between rest and productivity.
“Using a varied palette of plant-derived creative techniques which I’ve been developing over the last couple of years, I wanted to create a functional music project which is suitable for all, something that many different people could connect with and benefit from,” explains Wilson. “I believe rest to be the basis of all activity, this is what my meditation teacher has always told me, one needs to be well-rested in order to be able to be active, to create, to focus, to care for others and for our natural world.”
Recorded in various gardens across Sussex, as well as the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, each plant plays a distinct role, contributing to an immersive and transformative sonic experience. Passion Flower and Ashwagandha take centre stage, their electromagnetic readings, micro electrical fluctuations and DNA coding blended with real audio from contact mics forming the foundation of this unique composition.
“With this work, I sometimes feel like a forager,” explains Wilson. “I go out and collect plant readings and data before taking them home to creatively cook them up together. I guess in that way my method is kind of like that of a chef, or maybe a herbalist, processing plants for nutritional, pleasure-giving and health-promoting reasons.”
Musically, Wilson draws inspiration from the likes of Brian Eno, Pauline Oliveros and Jon Hassell as well as Indian classical maestros such as the Gundecha Brothers and the Dagar Brothers, combining ecological and biomedical sound art practices with her training in both Western and Indian classical musics.
REset represents the next chapter in Wilson's exploration of plant-derived music. It is the first recording in the PLANT VOX series which will each uniquely benefit a specific area of wellness. “Whilst I wanted to start with the most fundamental and widely beneficial theme in REset, I see great scope for the focus of future recordings.”
“Whilst the project is rooted in both scientific and creative compositional techniques, on a more fundamental level, it’s important to me that the music is enjoyed by people - be that as a tool for meditation and deep listening or just a moment of calm in an otherwise hectic day”
As Wilson continues to push the boundaries of sonic exploration, PLANT VOX stands as a testament to her commitment to merging science, nature, and music into a harmonious whole.
About the recording process:
“Sounds were recorded using a variety of methods and equipment including JrF contact mics (as used in David Attenborough’s The Green Planet), electromagnetic microphones and PlantWave devices. Micro-electrical recordings and physiological readings were then imported into Ableton Live (the PlantWave recordings were converted into MIDI) and I combined these with selections of DNA genetic code which I translated into four notes/pitches to form an evolving drone. With recordings from contact mics, I transcribe the rhythms and then work with those musically.”
"Once I have all my readings, I choose tiny portions which look interesting to me and then I treat those as musical motifs which I develop and transform through Western and Indian compositional processes. I'm very selective about which portions I use and I make my judgements based on their musical potential. So, I am very much more than just a sonifier of plants and/or data - I'm very much a composer who begins with sonified plant-derived material but applies both Western and Indian classical music processes in order to create ambient music designed to "REset"
Instruments and plants:
The harp plays a melodic line which is derived from readings from Valerian.
Cymbals were assigned to electromagnetic readings from Lavender.
Ashwagandha frequency readings were translated to make binaural beats
Portions of the genetic code of Passion Flower were translated into four notes/pitches to create an evolving drone played by lap steel guitar.
The plants used in REset are:
Passion flower, ashwagandha,
valerian, fennel, rosemary,
lavender and lemon balm.
About Helen Anahita Wilson:
Helen Anahita Wilson FRSA has recently completed a PhD in Music and Health Humanities at SOAS University of London and is an award-winning composer, sound artist, pianist, and improviser. She is an alumna of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, University of Sussex, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and SOAS.
Helen has performed at venues including London’s Southbank centre (Purcell Room) and St Paul’s Cathedral (as musician-in-residence), and has toured extensively throughout Europe and India, including at major festivals. Alongside performing her own works, she is a regular commissioner of new music by fellow contemporary composers and she also presents the global classical and art music show, Stereophonica, on Repeater Radio. She is currently working on two “composed documentaries” for radio exploring sonic understandings of the body and is writing a book about corporeal acoustemology.
She has been supported by Arts Council England, PRS Foundation, the Radiophonic Institute, the Fund for Women Graduates, Help Musicians UK, and has recently been awarded the Francis Chagrin Composer Award by Sound and Music UK and a Thurston Dart Research Grant by the Royal Musical Association. She has recently been appointed composer-in-residence for 2024-25 at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London.
Helen has recently collaborated with Shahbaz Hussain, Talvin Singh OBE, Prathap Ramachandra, Debashish Bhattacharya, the Mysore Brothers, and visual artists Lisa Creagh and Amy Shelton. Upcoming projects include the launch of Corpora Collective in 2024, a composers’ collective exploring understandings of the body through music and sonic arts, and the release of ‘Sound of Harris,’ an EP of songs and field recordings from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.
In 2023, Wilson released Linea Naturalis (we are all bioelectrical beings). The music, derived entirely from electrical data from plants with medicinal and healing properties, was made to be listened to by people undergoing cancer treatment. Wilson wanted to create a piece of music that offered cancer patients a means to connect back to nature whilst receiving treatment in the sterile, unnatural environment of a hospital or cancer centre. The project was featured on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and New Scientist Magazine as well as being supported by ambient and electronic tastemakers like BBC Radio 6 Music’s Mary Anne Hobbs and BBC Radio 3’s Hannah Peel and Elizabeth Alker.
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