Mort Garson (1924–2008) was a Juilliard-trained Canadian-American composer who became one of the first great Moog synthesizer artists. Mother Earth's Plantasia (1976) — an album composed for houseplants — went from obscurity to cult classic after the 2019 Sacred Bones reissue. Explore Mort Garson vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Morton S. Garson was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada on July 20, 1924. He moved to the United States and studied at the Juilliard School. He worked extensively as a Broadway arranger, film composer, and recording arranger before pivoting toward electronic music in the late 1960s. His 1967 album The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds (recorded with Paul Beaver and released under the Zodiac name) is widely cited as one of the foundational early Moog synthesizer albums. His 1976 album Mother Earth's Plantasia - a conceptual album composed for houseplant listening - was rediscovered through the 2019 Sacred Bones Records reissue and has become a cult classic in the contemporary electronic music revival. He died of liver failure on January 4, 2008 at age 83 in San Francisco. His foundational influence on early electronic music is widely cited.
Mort Garson's sound combines electronic, library music, Moog synthesizer music, easy listening electronic, ambient, and experimental electronic with his distinctive analog synthesizer arrangements (use of the Moog synthesizer), and conceptual approach to album-length work addressing astrology, occult themes, plants, and broader esoteric subjects.
Original early-1970s Mort Garson pressings have collector demand. The Sacred Bones Records reissue programs (Plantasia 2019, Music from Patch Cord Productions box set 2020) have restored the catalog availability.
Listeners new to Mort Garson typically start with Mother Earth's Plantasia (1976).
