A laptop and microphone on a grassy hilltop overlooking a vast landscape with forested areas, a city, and the ocean in the distance under a blue sky with scattered clouds. El Yunque in Puerto Rico, recording music with Floraphonics

Floraphonics

Floraphonics transforms the subtle bioelectrical rhythms of plants into musical narratives using the innovative PlantWave device, which converts nature’s hidden pulse into evocative MIDI data. As a progressive jazz bass player with over 30 albums released on my record label Mr. Haircut, I record plants while adventuring around the world and craft my studio tracks with vintage analog synthesizers—Floraphonics is my latest creative project.

-John Daniel Ray

SPOTIFY • APPLE MUSIC • BANDCAMP • INSTAGRAM

Recent Projects

Roan Mountain NC, recording an Fraser Fir tree with Floraphonics using a plantwave

Roan Mountian, NC, recording a fraser fir tree in an endangered spruce fir forest at the mountain’s summit.

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I traveled to Puerto Rico to record plants in the jungles there. Among the amazing recordings on this trip is a critically endangered fern found on only one mountaintop in the world.

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Recording an ancient cypress tree near the Mississippi River in Illinois with Floraphonics using a plantwave

In Horseshoe Lake, IL, near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers. I recorded an ancient cypress tree from a paddle board.

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In 2024 I drove from my home in NC to a lake in the middle of Arkansas to experience the total solar eclipse. While there I recorded two plants throughout the eclipse. The result is stunning.

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Floraphonics plant music created live in the jungle of Puerto Rico

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Floraphonics Kingfisher T-Shirt

$25.00

Elevate your wardrobe and your vibe with this exclusive, limited-edition T-shirt—the cover art of the new Puerto Rico album comes to life on premium fabric. Featuring a bold design where a striking kingfisher sits among vintage analog synthesizers, this shirt is a fusion of nature and sound, perfectly capturing the spirit of progressive music. T-shirts are a dime a dozen, but this one stands out from the pack. Crafted from 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (with heather colors containing polyester), it’s super soft, breathable, and boasts just the right amount of stretch. Pre-shrunk with side-seamed construction and shoulder-to-shoulder taping, every detail is designed for lasting comfort and style. Need we say more?

• 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (Heather colors contain polyester)
• Fabric weight: 4.2 oz/yd² (142 g/m²)
• Pre-shrunk fabric
• Side-seamed construction
• Shoulder-to-shoulder taping
• Blank product sourced from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, or the US

This product is made especially for you as soon as you place an order, which is why it takes us a bit longer to deliver it to you. Making products on demand instead of in bulk helps reduce overproduction, so thank you for making thoughtful purchasing decisions!

Color:

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Purple wildflower and green leaves amidst brown fallen leaves and a plantwave, recording plant music outdoors in a natural setting.

Mushrooms growing on a fallen log in a forest, with sunlight filtering through trees. Recording their music with a Plantwave

Green leaf attached to a tree trunk with metal clips and wires of a Plantwave

A laptop with audio recording software open, connected to a microphone with a furry windscreen, is placed on a snowy log in a wintry forest setting. Floraphonics recording tree moss on a snowy mountain river

Forest floor with dry leaves and a plant with a Plantwave attached to record the music of the plants

A snow-covered tree branch with hanging lichen in a snowy forest. The ground and surrounding trees are also blanketed by snow.

Tree with snow, a plantwave, forest background, sunlight

A laptop is set up on a wooden platform in a dense mangrove forest, surrounded by audio recording equipment and wires. Sunlight filters through the leaves.