From Gardens Where We Feel Secure

From Gardens Where We Feel Secure is the first album by Virginia Astley, issued on her own label Happy Valley and distributed by Rough Trade Records.

From Gardens Where We Feel Secure
Studio album by
Virginia Astley
ReleasedJuly 29 1983
RecordedApril 1982 - June 1982
GenreAmbient
Length37:45
LabelHappy Valley / Rough Trade Records
ProducerVirginia Astley, Russell Webb
Virginia Astley chronology
From Gardens Where We Feel Secure
(1983)		 Promise Nothing
(1983)

The album was released in July 1983 and peaked at number 4 in the UK Indie Chart. The album was trailed by a couple of its tracks A Summer Long Since Past and It's Too Hot to Sleep, which were included on the 12" of the earlier single Love's a lonely place to be.

The album is an instrumental collection of tone poems that describe the cycle and mirror the moods of an indolent summer day.[1] Each of the nine tracks began with the sound effects on top of which Russell Webb would then record Virginia's improvised playing . The album is notable for its structure, moving from dawn to dusk, and its use of natural, sound effects. In 1986, Astley and sound engineer Tony Phillips re-recorded "A Summer Long Since Passed" and including it in her 1986 album Hope in a Darkened Heart. "From Gardens..." was re-mastered and re-released by Rough Trade as a CD in 2003.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]

The album was praised by critics. Stewart Mason, writing for Allmusic, stated:

Almost entirely instrumental, save for a few wordless vocals on "A Summer Long Since Past," and featuring little instrumentation besides Astley's piano and some subtle woodwinds, the album is a lovely 35-minute meditation built around field recordings Astley made of the ambient sounds of the rural English countryside. This description makes the album sound much more twee and insubstantial than it actually is; however, Astley is no mere ambient noodler. These nine songs are melodically rich and varied; mood pieces in the truest sense of the term.

Track listing
  1. "Morning: With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming" - 5:43
  2. "Morning: A Summer Long Since Passed" - 4:36
  3. "Morning: From Gardens Where We Feel Secure" - 3:59
  4. "Morning: Hiding in the Ha-Ha" - 3:55
  5. "Afternoon: Out on the Lawn I Lie in Bed" - 5:09
  6. "Afternoon: Too Bright for Peacocks" - 2:29
  7. "Afternoon: Summer of Their Dreams" - 3:21
  8. "Afternoon: When the Fields Were on Fire" - 3:25
  9. "Afternoon: It's Too Hot to Sleep" - 5:18

Charts
Chart (1983) Peak
position
UK Indie Chart[3] 4

References
  1. allmusic.com Review "From Gardens Where We Feel Secure"
  2. Allmusic review
  3. Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
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