Helen Anahita Wilson was one of last year’s winners of the prestigious Oram Award. An honour named after the pioneering electronic composer, Daphne Oram, and bestowed on novel sonic innovators. Helen’s work is concerned with reconnecting humanity with Mother Nature, and the healing this provides. Her process involves harvesting plant data – not only field recordings, but electromagnetic fluctuations, and genetic code – and treating and translating this through Ableton Live. Helen’s previous pieces have included treatments of medicinal and healing herbs specifically for cancer patients, and as Plant Vox, on REset, she now turns her focus to rest and relaxation. Composing with the “voices” of Valerian, Rosemary, Passion Flower, Fennel, Lavender, and Lemon Balm. The result is a 43-minute trip.*

I wouldn’t call it “deep listening” or “ambient” since this isn’t BGM. The album instead instantly transports you into its world. It swells to surround you in its electrified Eden, creating a space, at least for its duration, where you feel safe and secure. Soothing stress, and even inducing slumber. Birds twitter. Valerian becomes heavenly harp glissando. The soundscape, spare, sparse, unhurried, summoning sunlight and dreams of green. There’s something symphonic about the way the melodies slowly unfurl. Helen manipulating the modulations into mimicking church organ and orchestral strings. Passion flower’s DNA plays out on pedal steel.

Rich with ringing resonance, feedback, phasing and loops, the aural decoction is organic, evolving, shapeshifting, and seemingly sentient. Mellow, and meditative, but bristling, buzzing, with energy. Cut from similar sonic cloth as Carlos Niño & friends collective spirituals, and Ariel Kalma’s classic conversations with creation. Generating waves of warmth, and wonderfully weaving the vegetation’s “words” and motifs into an incredible, continuous experience. To the point where it sounds improvised, rather than painstakingly put together. Fashioning a long-form composition that shimmers, floats, drones, and drifts, somewhere between Dorothy Ashby and MatthewDavid’s magical Mycelium Music.

*The devil in me did wonder what would happen if you applied these techniques to frequencies foraged from chacruna, peyote, or psilocybin mushrooms.

Plant Vox’s REset is out now, care of Platoon.