Legends / Wilson Tanner

"Legends" LP (2025) by Wilson Tanner.

This is a wine-fueled agrarian fantasy born among the vineyards of Manon Farm in South Australia.
While his previous works were filled with sea air and a sense of drifting, such as "69," which was shot while dozing in the sun in a backyard on the outskirts of Perth, and "II," which was created on a riverboat drifting on Port Phillip Bay, in "Legends," the smell of the sea is transformed into sweat in the fields, the sound of boots crunching on dry earth, and a summer cricket match playing on the radio.

Emerging from the agricultural haze is a scene of working vineyards. Ducks, dogs, and lapwings cut in, and tractors and all-terrain vehicles zip by. Stainless steel tanks glimmer dully at the edges of the frame. Recorded without mains power, Manon Farm's demos are brimming with agricultural ingenuity. Winds, brass instruments, balalaikas, balloons, pipes, and synths were all attached to staff with wire, tape, and string and played in the fields.

Legends is a caricature of Australian natural wine culture, stuffed with myth and compost.

Like a comradely chugging and burping, Wilson Tanner presses the environment itself into raw, unfiltered music, leaving all the loose ends, residue, and sediment in the bottle.

Wilson Tanner's latest album offers a lo-fi sound and a nostalgic worldview. As the official description states, it is rooted in the life and landscape of a wine farm. The sound alone is enjoyable, but seeing the actual photographs adds to the experience (Ammel).

Manon Farm Gallery (Links to external site)