Vibrant electro-meets-indie pop purveyors Geographer emerged from San Francisco with their first album, Innocent Ghosts, in 2008. Formed by a trio of one-time music majors, Geographer went forward as the solo project of main songwriter Mike Deni following the release of 2015's Ghost Modern. He delivered the project's fourth album, Down and Out in the Garden of Earthly Delights, in 2021.

The seeds were planted for Geographer in 2005, when family strife inspired Deni to relocate to the Bay Area from his New Jersey hometown. For the next several months, he composed songs on guitar and a synthesizer he found on the street. He knew Nathan Blaz (cello, electronics) and Brian Ostreicher (drums, vocals) from their days together at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Bringing them into the fold as Geographer in 2006, the trio cut their teeth on the local live circuit before releasing their full-length debut, Innocent Ghosts, in 2008. A year later, their song "The Morning" was featured in the trailer for the film New York, I Love You and they landed on SPIN magazine's Undiscovered Bands You Need to Hear Now list. Soon after, Geographer signed with Tricycle Records, which released the bubbly synth-driven single "Kites" in 2009 as well as the darker Animal Shapes EP in 2010. Many of the EP's songs generated further buzz after being featured in the MTV series Awkward. and The Buried Life, among other placements. Geographer then moved to the Modern Art roster in early 2011. Produced by Eli Crews and mixed by Chris Zane, who'd previously worked together on recordings for tUnE-yArDs, Passion Pit, and Deerhoof, the sophomore album Myth arrived in February 2012. It marked their debut on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.

Following numerous festival appearances and tours with the likes of Miniature Tigers, On an On, and Tokyo Police Club, Geographer signed with Roll Call Records for third full-length, early 2015's Ghost Modern. While it was recorded as a trio, Blaz and Ostreicher decided to leave the group before touring commenced, leaving Deni to form a live band for a subsequent headlining tour and appearance at SXSW. Recorded by Deni alone, the covers EP Endless Motion, Vol. 1 followed on Roll Call before the end of the year. It included songs originally by Paul Simon, New Order, and Kate Bush, among others.

The self-released EPs Alone Time and New Jersey eventually surfaced in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Geographer's first full-length release in six years, 2021's Down and Out in the Garden of Earthly Delights, was a double album issued by Deni that November. ~ Marcy Donelson & Chrysta Cherrie, Rovi