Mico Nonet Sets a French Horn, an Oboe, a Viola and a Cello Against Synthesizers on The Cardboard Falcon
Principals From Three American Orchestras Meet Joshua Lee Kramer’s Synthesizers and Guitars
The Cardboard Falcon puts a French horn, an oboe, a viola and a cello alongside Joshua Lee Kramer’s synthesizers and guitars. Mico Nonet released the album on 7 May 2026. Between them, its four acoustic players have held principal chairs at the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Mico Nonet’s title track sits in our instrumental playlist below, and the ensemble’s coverage is gathered on the Mico Nonet profile. The Cardboard Falcon came to TopMusic.News through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news titles. Press play on the album first, then keep reading for how the five players built it.
Who Plays What on The Cardboard Falcon, From Mico Nonet’s French Horn and Oboe to the Synthesizers
Start with the line-up, because the arrangement follows from it. David Cooper plays French horn. He is principal horn of the New York Philharmonic and previously held the same chair with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony and the Chicago Symphony. Katherine Needleman plays oboe. She has been principal oboist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2003, teaches oboe at the Curtis Institute of Music and is one of the ensemble’s founding members.
Meanwhile, Efe Baltacigil, principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony, came from the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he was associate principal cellist. Carrie Dennis plays viola with the Phoenix Symphony after principal posts with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The fifth member comes from somewhere else entirely. Joshua Lee Kramer plays the synthesizers and guitars, and before Mico Nonet he played in the indie-rock band Matt Pond PA. As a result, the record has two kinds of material: four acoustic instruments with long concert-hall training behind them, and the electronic patches of a player whose background includes indie rock.
A Precedent From Brian Eno’s Obscure Label and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra
The pairing has a history in ambient music. In 1976 Brian Eno released Music from the Penguin Cafe on his Obscure label. It was the debut of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, an ensemble founded by guitarist Simon Jeffes with cellist Helen Liebmann. Mico Nonet also keeps a guitarist and a cellist at its core. However, it pushes the arrangement toward a spacious ambient register with synthesizers instead of folk dance rhythms.
Joshua Lee Kramer Produced The Cardboard Falcon for Mico Nonet and Cut It as a 45rpm Double Album
Kramer is the studio producer on the record, and the album came out through Ninevolt Labs. The format the band chose for the vinyl says a lot about how they want it heard. The Cardboard Falcon was pressed as a double album on 180g vinyl at 45rpm, using a high-resolution one-step lacquer process.
Each of those choices is a technical one. At 45rpm the groove passes the stylus faster than on a standard 33rpm album. That gives the cutting engineer more room for high frequencies and dynamics. The cost is shorter sides, which is why the album runs to two discs. In addition, the one-step process makes the pressing parts from fewer generations of metal copies than the usual three-step method. So there is less between the original lacquer and the record on the platter.
Kramer also made the title-track video himself, with a mosaic pixelating lightbox he built. The film runs five minutes and 26 seconds on the band’s YouTube channel and turns the piece into shifting blocks of light and colour.
TopMusic.News’s curator team: “Five names share the composer credit on the title track, four orchestra principals and the synth player who produced the record. That collective writing makes The Cardboard Falcon a band record rather than one composer’s project with hired players, and it is why the album rewards a close listen.”
Where to Hear Mico Nonet’s The Cardboard Falcon, From KEXP and NTS Radio to the 45rpm Vinyl
Radio picked the record up within days of release. KEXP’s Pacific Notions played music from it on 10 May. Then Chuck van Zyl’s Star’s End on WXPN played elastic seesaw and stringless kite, and Richard Chartier played perilous driftwood on his dublab show. In June an NTS show played the whole album alongside tracks from the band’s first record.
The album will suit listeners who move between ambient, electronic and classical music. It will also suit anyone who follows these players’ orchestras and wants to hear them in a smaller, quieter setting.
Play the album in the player above or on Apple Music, and follow Mico Nonet on Spotify. Watch the title-track video on YouTube, then follow the band on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Band news and the line-up are on the official site.
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