Miracles Of Modern Science: No Guitars Necessary

Enlarge 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.

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 we do 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.