“Botanicals” is the debut solo LP album by Ren Water, singer of one of Greece’s finest Psych acts, Echo Train. “Botanicals” came in the flow of things, as a need to pay homage to everything that psychedelically colored Ren’s life until now. Almost two years in the making, drawing inspiration from the metaphors and dreams surrounding her, “Botanicals” is more than a set of songs, it is a ‘deposit of Soul’. Each song is like a combination of herbs that leads the soul to dimensions and stories that have sometimes exalted it and sometimes degenerated it. Throughout the 8 songs of the album, Ren is bringing out the innermost of her Psyche. There is Light, Darkness, Love, Despair, Hope, Lust, and Passion, and all these ‘Psych elements’ harmonically coexist, creating various emotions. All lyrics are by Ren. Also, the music is written by Ren. An important role in the making of “Botanicals” is the contribution of two Echo Train members – Greggy K and drummer Gregorio – along with Stratos Diamantis, they helped Ren materialize (or externalize if you prefer) the psychedelic microcosm of her mind. They all together wove a colorful cerebral mantle, a multi-dimensional mantle that covers a diversity of styles, genres, and sub-genres. Though, is very hard to describe the music of "Botanicals". To get an idea, just imagine a lost Pink Floyd melody from the early 70s that got lost in times and went to the Middle Ages (Medieval) then to Central Europe of the great Classics (Waltz), and after that to ancient Greece, then to the great late 60s British Prog era, returning to present, totally mutated! A fusion of sounds indeed! There’s Psychedelic Rock, Space Rock, Progressive Rock, Art Rock, and even some Medieval Poppy Dream-a-delia. It gives you the feel that you are inside Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights. The gates of the Garden are widely open, feel free to enter and travel with your mind, and always remember Love makes the flowers grow.
Here are a few words by Ren: I used images that I have lived in my dream like in “Great Was The Fall”, but also from "earthly life" such as the stormy eternal love in “My Man”. The story of Thais by Anatol France but also the poem of my karmic friend Esmeralda Gkeka "Narcissus & Echo", the guidance of an unborn child, my spaceship, the beginning with Eve’s touch, and the spiral end from the words of the Moon, all this hidden inside my botanical garden. Greggy K. alchemist and magician embroidered the songs with otherworldly energy, as uniquely he always does. Gregorio Perico, drummer of Echo Train, naturally had an absolute connection with the rhythm and style I had dreamed of. Stratos Diamantis added more magic on the Hammond and the harpsichord. On the cover I have illustrated and sketched by hand, the hallucinogenic plant Datura on the left side and a Narcissus on the right, in a dreamy form of them, along with various symbols contained in the songs. My good friend Thanasis Kapnisis, who photographed me with “Dona Maurita” in my arms, and in other important moments, edited the album cover as well.

Tracklist:
A1 Hand Selected Botanicals
A2 Great Was The Fall
A3 My Man
A4 Unborn Child
B1 Spaceship
B2 Thais
B3 Narcissus & Echo
B4 Spiral End