I must have been out of the loop, since somehow I'd previously never heard of Plantasia, a "multi-sensory experience inspired by Mort Garson's 1976 album Mother Earth's Plantasia" held at the Garfield Park Conservtory annually since 2021. The event "combines sound, light and the garden's abundant collection", but it's the "sound" part that intrigued me the most. The event seemed to attract some of my favorite ambient/ambient-adjacent artists. So when I saw the Empty Bottle's newsletter hit my inbox earlier in the year listing Windy And Carl as one of the performers, I knew I'd be going.
The weather was ideal, and we caught a great set on the larger outdoor stage as the sun was setting by Vines, whom I had not heard of previously. Really, I didn't have much to complain about except that, for some reason, Windy And Carl played on the smallest, indoor stage. While they sounded great, the room was warm, stuffy, crowded, and noise carried too easily from the back of the room, where people uninterested in the band were chatting unawares. I think Windy was even referencing the noise when called us "a raucous crowd." Unless she was making humorous jab at the folks sitting in front of the stage, legs cross, sitting in rapt attention.
Overall, Empty Bottle did a great job putting the event together and I look forward to next year's lineup. Now I just need to figure out how to see Windy and Carl without the background noise...