Field Notes modern biology

By A Mystery Man Writer

Last updated 06 Jul 2024

Combining the spirit of Mort Garson’s ‘Plantasia’, the generative approaches of Brian Eno, and the inspiration of the bestselling ‘The Secret Life of Plants’, ‘Field Notes’ is the new album by West Coast musician and producer Tarun Nayar aka Modern Biology, due out for Earth Day - April 21, 2023. Most well known for his viral plant and mushroom ‘music’ videos (which have been streamed over 100 million times), his third full length release is a more open format exploration of electromagnetic fields and musical notes that draws inspiration from his formal training in biology. These 13 vignettes were created outside in the lush temperate rainforests and rocky beaches of the Pacific Northwest and carry a nostalgia reminiscent of early New Age music or Japanese ‘environmental’ music from the early 80s. Nayar’s process sees him hike, climb, and sometimes wheelbarrow his modular synthesizer and other analog equipment deep into nature to create live ambient soundscapes, often using wind sensors, sun sensors, latent electromagnetic radiation, field recordings and floral and fungal bioelectricity to create deeply contextual compositions that express the aliveness of a certain time and place. He then takes these recording into the studio to mix and layer in other elements and instruments to create these deeply personal sketches - or field notes as it were.