moss garden

thirty seven years ago i stayed in west berlin for a little while. the city buzzed with energy. artists and musicians were being drawn once more to it as the epicentre of every sort of extravagance and one only had to pass through checkpoint charlie to enter its exact opposite in east berlin.

a couple of years later, david bowie and brian eno were residents of the same berlin.

at that time they crafted the album "heroes" on which a beautiful track entitled "moss garden" can be found.

an instrumental, “moss garden” features bowie plucking a japanese stringed instrument named a koto.

david plucks the koto over a painterly wash of sound crafted by eno that contains

elements of wind, water, and even birds.

the effect is soothing and evocative and conjures up images in my own mind of marshland in the autumn.

it has been used to interesting effect in this film shot on berlin's s-bahn. the film takes a painterly approach through its conscious blurring of the scenery that the camera is passing.

the resultant views in combination with the music are in my view very lovely.