𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕝𝕤 | Out Now!
Parallels is the result of a creative collaboration between composer John Nolan (Folk Physics), renowned cellist Mike Block, and producer Dan Cardinal. Produced over five years beginning at the start of lockdown, each track was crafted and recorded independently, a testament to the trust and synergy between the artists. The album draws inspiration from the atmospheric worlds of Ólafur Arnalds, Brian Eno, and Nils Frahm, weaving ambient textures with emotive strings and nuanced production. Parallels is a collection of wordless-songs about solitude, distance and connection between parallel paths.
#imaginaryanimals #mikeblock #cello #electroacoustic #parallels #folkphysics #newmusic #classicalmusic #ambient
🍾 🎊 Album Release Day!! 🎊 🍾
Artificial Light is streaming everywhere. I’m so excited to finally release this music. It’s a new direction for me and I love it.
A huge big ups and thanks to @daniel.cardinal and @dimensionsoundstudios in JP. This is the fourth full-length Folk Physics album he’s produced and like our 80th time working together over the past 15 years. Hands down best producer in Boston.
📰 Official Press Release! 📰
Artificial Light is the fourth full-length studio album from Folk Physics, the moniker of guitarist and composer John Nolan. It’s also the fourth record with long-time producer and collaborator Dan Cardinal (Darlingside, Josh Ritter).
Arriving on the heels of 2025’s Parallels, a collaboration between Nolan, Cardinal and Grammy-winning cellist Mike Block, Artificial Light pivots away from the ambient textures of its predecessor towards a driving, electronic landscape. Drawing inspiration from the analog nostalgia of Boards of Canada, the electronic guitars and textures of Ratatat and the experimental rhythmic collages of The Books, the record bridges the gap between structure and experimental synthesis, groove and ambience.
Artificial Light is music that captures that liminal space at the end of an evening - the hum of the highway, the blurred lines of streetlights, and the transition from the chaos of the night to the calmness of the driveway. It’s music for when you want to be alone but don’t want the party to end.
Crank it up!!
🌋🌋 Release Day! 🌋🌋
Say hello to "Volcano Song"!
One of my favorite movies of the past few years (along with Train Dreams, Eurovision & that 12-minute garage outtake from Friendship) is the documentary Fire of Love about the French volcano chasers Katia and Maurice Krafft. It's a beautiful film about love, passion, volcanos and the 1980s and it’s got an unbelievable score by Nicolas Godin of Air.
I wanted to make a track inspired by this film and its music. Cue producer wizard @daniel.cardinal . He helped me take a dirty synth line, some guitar loops and simple drum pattern in to a fire track about driving through the heart of a volcano.
One of my favorite videos is of my kid Jack at age 2 discovering echos in an old farmhouse in Lincoln, MA. I sampled his voice and he's featured throughout the track (and video).
I'm so excited to release this song. Turn it up and take another loop around the block.
"Volcano Song" is streaming everywhere.
*
*
*
*
#newmusic #electronica #indie #ratatat #synthpop #volcanos
I’ll take “I should have listened to more Folk Physics” for a thousand, Ken.
Don’t be like Dave. Artificial Light is streaming everywhere now!
#jeopardy #aliceinwonderland #curiouserandcuriouser
Something I think about a lot is the fact that the fireplace channel has commercial breaks that show someone cutting up firewood. 🔥🪵
You’re listening to “Expert Witness” from Artificial Light, streaming everywhere now!
*
*
*
#fireplace #fireplace4k #fireplacechannel
(re)Making Artificial Light.
For the cover of the album I cut up and collaged the October 1926 issue of National Geographic magazine that belonged to my wife’s grandparents. I’m pretty confident it wasn’t worth anything.
I maybe like the handwritten version of the cover more?
Artificial Light is streaming everywhere now!
#collage #timelapse
🎩 “I Wish I Were A Hatter” 🎩
Fun Fact: In the 19th century, hatters used mercury to shape and flatten hats. They inhaled so much mercury vapors that they developed tremors and hallucinations and mental issues like depression and anxiety.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”
💡 Artificial Light 💡is streaming everywhere now!
*
*
*
#newmusic #bostonmusic #madhatter
My new album Artificial Light comes out next Friday, Feb 27.
Here's a snippet from the last track on the album "A Broken Clock Is Wrong Most Of The Time".
It's a noisy, meditative, relentless ramble for the drive back home when you want to be alone but don't want the party to end. I can't wait for you to hear the rest.
I should be talking about my new song “Volcano Song” (streaming everywhere now — link in bio!) but I’m having too much fun playing dirty baritone licks through a fender champ with my kid on drums. 🤟
Artificial Light out Feb 27!
