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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Miracles Of Modern Science: No Guitars Necessary

Josh Hirshfeld (mandolin), Evan Younger (double bass) and Geoff McDonald (cello) of Miracles of Modern Science settle into NPR's Studio 4A.
Cristina Fletes
/
NPR
Josh Hirshfeld (mandolin), Evan Younger (double bass) and Geoff McDonald (cello) of Miracles of Modern Science settle into NPR's Studio 4A.

A lot of rock bands visit the NPR studios with maybe a fiddle or two in tow. But Miracles of Modern Science are not a typical rock band. The group boasts a mandolin, upright bass, cello, violin, drums — and absolutely no electric guitar.

Evan Younger, Josh Hirshfeld, Kieran Ledwidge, Tyler Pines and Geoff McDonald met in college, where they bonded over a shared love of jazz, rock and classical music. But even more important to their chemistry, McDonald says, is a belief that those genres can play nice together, with satisfying results.

"There's sort of a thaw in the music community now between people who play classical music, or whatever you want to call it — concert music, art music — and what wedo in music clubs," says McDonald. "And that's a really great thing. You see lots of people doing imaginative things from both sides of what was [once] a divide."

Miracles of Modern Science piled into NPR's Studio 4A to speak with Weekend Edition Sunday host Audie Cornish, and to perform songs from their debut album, Dog Year.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.