World's Most Stressed Out Gardener

World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener breathes, stares, and shovels through this universe one tangled root at a time.

Feels like one of his least fussed-over releases. [Apr 2021, p.37]

Underlining everything is a sense that he’s playing to his musical strengths, both in terms of the way he incorporates so many aspects of his sonic calling card; droll lyricism, field recordings, off-kilter melodies, and a general sense that he’s having the analog and the electronic meet at deliberately awkward junctures - making it all the more impressive when, counterintuitively, the kind of clashes that define ‘Nightmare Scenario’ or ‘Starlight’ actually work strikingly well.

Is it incoherent? Absolutely, but that's all part of the fun. Although it's tempting to wish for an entire album in the same style — the krautrock tunes are especially strong — that wouldn't be nearly as fun as this strange tour through VanGaalen's brain.

On World’s Most Stressed Out Gardner, Chad VanGaalen indulges his inner experimentalist more than on its more recent predecessors, albeit with the same giddy, goofball disposition we’re used to.

The throughline, as ever, is VanGaalen’s knack for crafting emotionally resonant songs out of absurd premises.

It's ace, but he's not a man you'd trust with secateurs. [Jun 2021, p.83]

There's something light and joyful, even as the lyrics turn dark and the music turns abrasive. And somehow, VanGaalen keeps it all fun, whether he's stressed out or not.