FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John Daniel Ray
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🌿 Floraphonics – Puerto Rico Releases August 9
An ambient album made in collaboration with living plants, recorded across Puerto Rico
Winston-Salem, NC — August 9, 2025 — Jazz musician and sonic ecologist John Daniel Ray announces the release of his new album Floraphonics – Puerto Rico, a five-track ambient collection made in collaboration with the island’s native plant life. Using a device called PlantWave to translate bioelectrical signals from plants into MIDI data, Ray creates immersive soundscapes shaped by mangrove trees, mountaintop ferns, rainforest shrubs, and riverbank grasses.
The album was recorded during a two-week journey around Puerto Rico in 2023, during which Ray and his partner camped, hiked, and scuba-dived across the island, gathering data from living plants in diverse ecosystems—from mangrove swamps to waterfalls to cloud forests. Each track uses real-time electrical signals from the plants to generate melodies and rhythms, which Ray interpreted in his studio using vintage synthesizers and upright bass.
“These aren’t just field recordings,” Ray explains. “Each plant shaped the actual music—its rhythm, its notes, its phrasing. I think of it as a duet between human and plant.”
One of the album’s most striking pieces, Elaphoglossum Serpens, was recorded from a critically endangered fern found only on one mountaintop in the world. Another, Black Mangroves, was created from two neighboring trees in a dense coastal swamp, with ambient crabs and birdcalls woven into the fabric of the track.
Ray is best known for his work as a progressive jazz bassist and improviser, having released over 30 albums through his label Mr. Haircut Records. Floraphonics is a side project that blends his passion for experimental sound with ecological awareness.
The album will be available on Bandcamp, Spotify, and all major streaming platforms starting August 9. Full album info, videos, and purchase links can be found at:
👉 https://floraphonics.hearnow.com/puerto-rico
About Floraphonics
Floraphonics is a plant-music project by John Daniel Ray that uses PlantWave technology to turn real-time electrical data from living plants into ambient sound. Each track is rooted in a specific place and time, offering listeners a chance to hear what nature might sound like—if we learn how to listen.