144. Album Review of Coastlines by Thousand Gardens
Originally Published on June 13th, 2025
About the Artist
Thousand Gardens is a musical project out of New Jersey that was created by Derek Young. They have been releasing music since 2023. The project is an instrumental one, exploring early stages of Industrial (IDM), as well as some older more organic techno influences. There is a similarity to Play by Moby, and Young references Boards of Canada, Mouse on Mars, and Black Moth Super Rainbow as influences.
In 2023, Thousand Gardens debuted with the release of their album, Overgrowth; a 10 song, 40 minute album of the same genres. What my first initial impression about their music in Overgrowth are three things: first, the percussion that is programmed is very organic sounding, very earthy. Second, they like to explore themed passages. Focus on a melodic idea. They rarely use full chord progressions. They introduce melody into a song like thought introduces an idea into a brain. Third, they are imaginative with the use of samples. They add percussive and melodic undertones to every song with every different sample that’s incorporated.
After the release of their debut album, Thousand Gardens followed with the release of three singles, including Sleep in December of 2023. Then, in May of 2024, they released their sophomore album, A Path Unclear. From the very beginning, I notice a shift closer to the path of Industrial experimentation that Young references as an influence. The album opener, Patbingsu, is just a beautiful song. The programmed percussion has more of an industrial edge, there are saw synths that are subtly used in the bass performance, but the sound space is really opened with the higher toned synths incorporated in the songs. Different bells, chimes, and xylophones allow the song to expand to the quiet corners of my mind, and every craving is satisfied.
The same goes with Airlock Failure, the very next song. Here, the percussion is a bit stripped down, and there is a greater focus on the chime synths, but Thousand Gardens are able to contrast with a brilliant incorporation of a vocoder to really fill the middle range of the song.
A Path Unclear marks a significant move for Thousand Gardens as they are finding where they are really good with their experimentation of sound. After its release, they released two more singles in 2024, they released a remix of Fading by Brenna Menz. I absolutely love listening to Menz’s original version here, then going back and listening to the remix. There is such imagination in the composition of this reworked song. I would truly love to hear more remixes from Thousand Gardens. This is extraordinary.
After the release of Fading in January, Thousand Gardens released an A-B side single, Polomino, in March, then released 4 singles on May 28th, another one on May 29th, and then another one again on June 6th, ahead of their follow up to A Path Unclear.
About the Album
Coastlines is the third album by New Jersey techno and IDM artist, Thousand Gardens. It is a 14-song LP that runs at forty-three minutes. As before in the time between their first and second album, it expands on their experimentation with early industrial sounds, finding contrast between organic and mechanical percussion, explorations of melodic phrasing, and the use of samples. Coastlines was recorded, and produced by Derek Young of Thousand Gardens.
About the Music
As they exhibited between their first and second album, Thousand Gardens have shown a growth in the production of their music. There is an elemental shift in their influence as they incorporate more and more into their songs. In A Path Unclear, there was an introduction of bells and chimes that were incorporated in a lot of their songs that filled the upper ranges of their music. They have changed it up where they use the chimes less and more mid-ranged in places, and they incorporate pads in some of the higher ranges.
In Fireflies, there are a plethora of sounds that are experimented with here. I love the incorporation of the Eno Pad that serves as a sort of foundation. Then the lead instrument is a sliding synth that almost sounds like a theramin that is played sporadically, with chimes that are phased in and out as well. Vocoder is used to anchor the progression in the mid to lower range of melody, and somewhat organic percussion is used.
In Centennial, Thousand Gardens explores melodic theme through use of an organ that has a sort of chime effect. It almost reminds me of church bells ringing to usher in a congregation before mass or something similar to that. There also seems to be a delay to the organ that allows for this backdrop of sound space to be filled by the brightness of the melody. The crackling sample and the minimalist percussion give this song an intriguing quality.
One of my favorite tracks on the album is Nightlight. This one, you can actually say there is a vocal part. It is heavily saturated with vocoding effects (which I love) but it’s there. I love how the synths swell into the introduction before the percussion and guitar introduce a different tempo and feel to what I was anticipating this song to be.
Apples is another very strong performance on the album. The different parts are once again introduced through layers with a very ambient synth leading the way. The production value of this song is so crisp. Each note has its own space to be heard but it all weaves together into the composition. It’s like seeing the sweater but also being able to distinguish an individual thread within it as well.
Final Thoughts
Thousand Gardens have shown significant progress from their start. Building from the concept of exploration, they have progressed to demonstrating an incredible amount of musicality within the IDM and techno genres. Their compositions are deep and provoking. They remind me so much of Maps work in the mid to late 2000’s, as well as Jóhann Jóhannson and songs like The Sun's Gone Dim and the Sky's Turned Black.
As Thousand Gardens continue to develop, they are poised to be an artist that could potentially break into the genre. I think it would be great to hear more collaborations from them with vocal performers, as well as more experimentations with their own vocals. It’s not necessarily required for them to progress but it may help get their music in front of a wider audience.
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