Michael Allen Z Prime

Michael Allen Prime (recording as Michael Prime, and since as Michael Allen Z Prime) is a composer and ecologist based in Cork, Ireland, working with bioelectrical sound sources since around 1990. His method captures the fluctuating electrical potentials generated by plants and fungi and imposes a self-restricted framework on any further processing, so that “the essential voice of the living sound sources” stays identifiable rather than becoming raw material for extensive transformation — the bioactivity signal itself forms the basis of the piece, not just its trigger. The work spans bioelectrical compositions, field recordings, and site-specific installations. He was a founding member of the London free-improvisation group Morphogenesis in 1985, where he first developed these plant-bioelectrical techniques. Bioelectrical Music (2023), a 3CD box set surveying recordings made from 1990 to 2019, includes a booklet essay by Prime on plant neurophysiology alongside a contribution from mycologist Merlin Sheldrake.