Shout out to Nyck + Mich for the heads up on Flore Laurentienne, the new orchestral synth project of Quebec's Mathieu David Gagnon, accompanied on his stunning debut Volume 1 by a cast of talented Montreal musicians on strings. That dope pseudonym was seemingly taken from an important 1935 botanical record that took inventory for the first time of southern Quebec’s diverse flora, and it was an inspired choice for a name: just as Flore Laurentienne was ultimately more than a book about plants, this is much grander and more affecting than basic synth and strings. The undeniably cinematic sounds here evoke all of the magic and overwhelming wonder of nature; lush, sweeping, modern classical that swells and ebbs, feeling epic at times and delicate at others, like a vivid and transportive score to an imaginary film. Listen to Volume 1 below, and purchase the limited special edition vinyl (ed. of 50) here: