Geologist, the experimental electronics specialist from Animal Collective also known as Brian Weitz, has announced his new album The Sirens, set for release on October 16 via Outside Time. The project stands as his third full-length album of 2026 after January’s solo project Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights? and the May collaboration Croz Boyce with bandmate Avey Tare. Recorded in 2024 at visual artist Kyle Simon’s Farrington Observatory in Joshua Tree, the album captures a single extended composition crafted through moonlight. Tare and Geologist will begin a joint tour next month, opening with a September 8 date in Asheville, North Carolina.
The record centers on one continuous piece driven by real-time modular synthesizer responses. A preview track, ‘The Opening’, offers an early listen to the results. Light collected through a telescope fitted with optical sensors and photodiodes is converted into electrical signals that feed Weitz’s synthesizer, modulating pitch, filter, and rhythm as the scope moves across the night sky.
Kyle Simon explained the process in the liner notes: “The telescope is fitted with optical sensors and light-sensitive detectors called photodiodes. As I rotate the scope towards different objects in the night sky, it collects light from stars, the moon, and planets. This raw light is converted into an electrical signal via an analog amplifier and then sent to Brian’s modular synthesizer rig as control voltage, a signal format that can modulate pitch, filter, rhythm, and other sonic elements in real time.” 
Stream ‘The Opening’:
