Geologist Records Album Using Moonlight and Telescope
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Geologist (Brian Weitz of Animal Collective) will release "The Sirens" on October 16 via Outside Time, a single composition recorded in 2024 at visual artist Kyle Simon's Farrington Observatory in Joshua Tree.
- Simon details the recording method in the liner notes: a telescope fitted with optical sensors and photodiodes captured light from stars, the moon, and planets, then converted it via analog amplifier into control voltage that modulated pitch, filter, and rhythm on Weitz's modular synthesizer in real time.
- "The Sirens" is Geologist's third album of 2026, following January's solo release "Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights?" and May's Avey Tare collaboration "Croz Boyce."
- Avey Tare and Geologist will launch a run of dates next month, opening September 8 in Asheville, North Carolina.
- A preview track titled "The Opening" is streaming ahead of the October 16 release date.
Why it matters: The album extends Animal Collective's experimental ethos into literal astronomy — moonlight and starlight directly drive the synthesizer, not as samples but as real-time control voltage. For a band long defined by sonic adventurousness, this represents an unusually literal connection between celestial source and musical output, arriving as Geologist maintains a prolific pace with three albums in 2026 plus a fall tour.
Ask SkimNews
