Embracing 'Flaws': Vienna's GARDENS on Self-Discovery and Dreamy Soundscapes

Vienna dream-pop quartet GARDENS is back with their new single "Shift," via Siluh Records. With a surging sound that’s both reflective and propulsive, "Shift" explores themes of self-discovery and brings echoes of artists like Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and The War on Drugs. This release is the final teaser for their upcoming debut album Flaws, out on November 1st, which promises a mix of warm, glistening compositions balanced with introspective depth—a sound that’s earned praise from DIY, Far Out, and Backseat Mafia.

Aptly titled, Flaws sees frontwoman Luca channel the raw emotions of youth, mental health, and heartbreak into lush soundscapes, weaving vulnerability with buoyant guitar riffs. GARDENS’ music embraces life’s highs and lows, inviting listeners to find comfort in the shared experience of their candid storytelling.

1. How did the experiences of writing lyrics on the metro contribute to the overall themes and tone of the album Flaws?

Luca: The whole album is kind of a collection of coming of age stories and I guess just like things in my life happen seemingly at random, the lyrics to the songs also just come to me whenever and wherever, also when I‘m on the metro or at a party or somewhere else. It‘s a mix of feelings and thoughts and stories I‘ve felt and lived through on this album,  the different places where lyrics just appeared in my head might reflect that as well and contribute to shaping the songs originally.

2. Can you explain in more detail how the band's music reflects both the acceptance of life's darker currents and the embrace of change with clarity and warmth?

Luca: The album reflects the versatility of some of the emotions and hardships we go through as teens growing into adulthood like trauma, mental health struggles, heartbreak, even more heartbreak, changes and shifts in life. That's reflected by the lyrics and moods of the different songs. There’s always an up after a down and just like the ups, the downs also are part of this human experience, which are processed in songs like 'Shift', 'Pills' or 'Help'. Change“ for example is a song that deals with the anxiety coming with things changing, although it most of the time leads to a brighter future. I love working with lyrics that depict a darker or more confusing time in my life and instead of going with the 'darkness“'it sometimes seems more intriguing to me to build a sound around it that adds a bit of hopefulness, like in 'Youth' for example or that adds energy, like in 'Help'.

3. What inspired the band to blend elements of indie pop, 60s psych folk, and dream pop, and how did you achieve a cohesive sound with these different genres?

Peter: It pretty much came naturally through trial and error. We never had a masterplan to arrive at a certain sound. We all might have similar taste in music but each of us have soaked up their own set of genre elements that come to surface at some point while working out a song. To all of us Luca’s lyrics are the fuel. The feelings that come up, while we play along to her words, are a good guide for where this might be at home sonically.

And one thing we had from the beginning is a solid representation of what we sound like. My studio space, where we work most of the time, is a small and dead room with tube amps and a simple 60s drum kit. Everything is mic’d up and ready for anyone to hit record. So there was never a gap between starting into a new song and actually recording it together. That helped us make sonic decisions early. So when we decided to record our debut album with René Mühlberger for a change of atmosphere, our ears were already tuned to a sound we developed for months. René and his love for vintage gear helped us take that even a step further.

In the end we had little time and were tracking up to three songs a day, still live, all together in a room, reacting to each other. The resulting mic bleeds, totally off the grid beats shape a band’s sound as well. All in all it’s become a pairing of modern day storytelling songwriting and old school recording approach. It was never planned but it’s the result of all the things we enjoy about the music we love to hear and play.

4. How did the early support from UK media like DIY, Far Out, and Backseat Mafia influence the band's approach to promoting the album and its singles?

It’s been great to get this early support from UK media and it just made us even more eager to reach an international audience and reach out to the UK market more. It would be a dream for us to play for an audience in the UK at some point!