Album Review: Sage Martens - "Chamber Music for Lawn Mowers"

Chamber Music for Lawn Mowers is an immersive ambient album that's the perfect representation of our complicated relationship with lawn care and lawn mowing. By using the sounds of two actual riding lawn mowers, it's lush, haunting, meditative and above all, unique.

Sage Martens - 2025

The sun is blazing. Sweat is dripping from your forehead. Your clothes are drenched in sweat. You're panting from the heat. It's the dog days of Summer and you need some fresh music to keep your afternoon running smoothly. Why not put on some ambient music that primarily uses lawn mower sounds? Yes, you heard me right: M. Sage and Lieven Martens, who go by Sage Martens, have released a new ambient project that relates to the topic of lawncare. Specifically highlighting the lawn mower itself by using the sounds of two actual riding lawn mowers (one of them is apparently the same one that Tom Hanks uses in Forrest Gump), Chamber Music for Lawn Mowers is an album that's perfect for your afternoon walk, chill leisure time, or even when you want to go for an actual ride on your very own lawn mower. This album's origins spawn on the history of lawn care, why us humans are obsessed with it, its roots on class and wealth, and its many detrimental environmental impacts due to pollution, overt water waste, and energy usage.

I've always had a special bond with the lawn mower. I had frequently used a push mower back in middle school in the northern Georgia heat. In my high school and college years, I used a John Deere riding mower in the often breezy Wisconsin air. I love the sound of the mower, the smell of freshly cut grass, and the music I would listen to while I do this outdoor physical task. There were also some things I didn't like as much, such as the smell of gasoline, the grime and dirt, the many annoying bugs, the lack of good air quality... and the fact that all of this excessive lawn care is pretty terrible for the environment and is probably a cultural habit that us humans don't need to have, but hey, it was still pretty fun! After reading about this album's announcement, it truly perked my interest. I can't say I've ever heard of a lawn centric album (besides Sturgill Simpson's Cuttin' Grass compilations) and the thought of ambient music and lawn mower sounds colliding really sounds intriguing.

I always found the sound of a mower to be ambient on its own and the way Sage and Martens blend it with ambient washes, clarinet, saxophone, synths, and other computing make it a really enveloping and immersive experience. The duo use two different types of mowers on the record: the Snapper Riding Mower and the Fiskars StaySharp. The record flows nicely too and it's structured within three main parts and two short interludes split in between, the interludes being simple field recordings of the two individual mowers revving up and starting. The first part, "Chamber Music for Lawn Mowers," starts out with the revving up of the riding lawn mower of the artists' choice and its use of clarinet and saxophone make it both dreamy and eerie. The second, "The Scent of Freshly Mown Grass, Historical Lament," features more of the clunky, machinery sounds of the mower itself, which I find really neat. The attention to detail is really nice and it's impressive to even consider using these sounds of shifting gears and metal to begin with. On top of that, there's even these beautiful, haunting keys which sound like they're coming from an organ. There's definitely a darker tone to this one. It does sound like a weird, experimental orchestra performing inside a lawn mower itself. The third and final part, "Song Between the Blades," shimmers in kaleidoscopic sunlight and is arguably the dreamiest and prettiest of the trio. The ever morphing electronics sound like a rainbow shining from the water sprinklers replenishing the grass from your back yard.

If the Sage and Martens wanted to illustrate both the joys and serious implications of lawn mowing, then I think they got their point across with this project. It's lush, beautiful, haunting, meditative, and even therapeutic in a way, which in my opinion is reminiscent of actual lawn mowing itself. I know this is a pretty off the wall concept that isn't for everyone but I do recommend to anyone who is curious about the topic, regardless if you're super into ambient music or not. I personally enjoy the genre but I, like many, have a hard time deciphering or detailing what goes into the ins and outs of ambient music itself and what makes each release differ from one another besides "vibe" or "feeling." But with the use of a lawn mower as an instrument, it makes things a little more clear to hear for me. Chamber Music for Lawn Mowers is an immersive ambient album that's the perfect representation of our complicated relationship with lawn care and lawn mowing. Since we're near the tail end of Summer and we are experiencing all sorts of sunshine, heat, humidity, and devastating effects of climate change amongst the grassy landscapes within our lawns, I can't think of a more fitting soundtrack.

My Rating: 8 / 10

Favorite Brands of Lawn Mowers: "John Deere," "Toro," "Kawasaki"