When a band of celebrated musicians trades stadium tours for a remote Icelandic studio, the result is more than an album—it’s a blueprint for how art can bankroll environmental action. That’s the gamble behind QUOIA, a new alliance debuting with a supergroup whose first record drops next week.
Floki Studios in Iceland — Credit: Andy Mann
Rainbow Body Debut Album
Also worth a look: Track Review: Doechii “Denial Is a River” Is a Lyrical Tour de Force and Track Review: Rosalia “Abismo” Merges Flamenco and Industrial Electronics.
QUOIA Logo
Featuring members of Goose, Dawes, Lettuce and Dead & Company, Rainbow Body will release its debut album Oct 23 to benefit wild Atlantic salmon conservation.
LAGUNA BEACH, CA, UNITED STATES, October 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — What unfolds when top-tier musicians step away from the familiar, submerge themselves in one of the planet’s most untamed regions, and let the terrain and its inhabitants steer their songwriting?
That’s the core premise of QUOIA™, a fledgling venture that fuses artistry with environmental advocacy through musical expression.
Spearheaded by a coalition of eco-conscious private enterprises—Cox Enterprises, Atlantic Packaging and Eleven—QUOIA transports musicians to wild settings to craft original works, drawing audiences closer to nature and galvanizing support for its preservation.
For its debut excursion, QUOIA assembled a stellar roster at Flóki Studios in northern Iceland. There, the stark beauty of the landscape, firsthand encounters with regional conservationists, and the urgent story of wild Atlantic salmon served as the muse for a remarkable group effort.
That effort is Rainbow Body, a collective uniting acclaimed players from Goose, Dawes, Lettuce, Soulive and beyond. Their debut album arrives digitally on October 23, with a live premiere that same evening at the Coast Film & Music Festival in Laguna Beach, California. A vinyl pressing for collectors is slated for early 2027.
MUSIC BORN IN THE WILD
Rainbow Body’s lineup is a roll call of modern jam and rock royalty:
– Rick Mitarotonda – Goose
– Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith – Dawes
– Eric Krasno – Lettuce, Soulive; three-time Grammy Award winner
– Ross James – Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band
– Adam MacDougall – Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun
Joining them are special guests Oteil Burbridge, a two-time Grammy winner known for Dead & Company and the Allman Brothers Band, and singer-songwriter Nicki Bluhm.
The ensemble arrived with no fixed sonic agenda or planned setlist, letting the Icelandic environment and spontaneous chemistry dictate the direction of the recordings.
Their debut track, “Strange Memory,” caught the attention of Rolling Stone, which named it among the week’s must-hear songs. JamBands.com hailed the sessions, noting the music captures “a sound that feels both timeless and adventurous.”
“We hope to create awareness around certain things that people would not normally know are happening in the world,” says Krasno. “That it can be kind of a backdrop for coming together on these issues and people collaborating in different ways to help the world.”
“As musicians, everyone’s focused on their pursuit and expression as artists, and that can become all-consuming,” says Mitarotonda. “To be able to be a part of this and serve something bigger, it’s an honor and something I would love to do a lot more of.”
A SOUNDTRACK FOR CONSERVATION
Iceland’s untamed rivers rank among the last refuges for Atlantic salmon, a species that journeys thousands of miles between freshwater streams and the open ocean. Since the 1970s, wild Atlantic salmon numbers have plummeted due to habitat degradation, shifting climates, contaminants and industrial aquaculture.
Salmon serve as an indicator species, offering a barometer for planetary health. Thriving salmon populations point to robust rivers, seas and ecosystems; their collapse signals distress in those natural systems.
Proceeds from QUOIA’s inaugural session benefit the North Atlantic Salmon Fund, established in 1989 by Icelandic conservationist Orri Vigfússon. The organization champions wild salmon through habitat restoration, sustainable fishing practices and countering the dangers of ocean-based salmon farming.
A NEW KIND OF CREATIVE ALLIANCE
QUOIA operates on a straightforward conviction: Music acts as the great connector, a conduit for truly perceiving and appreciating nature.
Its backers—Cox Enterprises, Atlantic Packaging and Eleven—are united by a dedication to conservation and the idea that commerce, inventiveness and teamwork can drive meaningful environmental progress.
The platform aims to pair artists with awe-inspiring locales, introduce them to those safeguarding these areas, and channel those encounters into music with global resonance.
Iceland and its salmon are merely the starting point. QUOIA is already plotting future journeys to other wild destinations, promising fresh artists, novel sounds and new conservation narratives for worldwide audiences.
Let’s keep the world humming.
THE ALLIANCE BEHIND QUOIA
QUOIA was established by a coalition of conservation-minded private firms devoted to innovation, partnership and restoring the earth. Their goal is an impact network aimed at bolstering biodiversity and revitalizing nature.
About Cox Enterprises:
A global, privately held company that invests in innovative businesses working to create a better future for people and the planet.
About Atlantic Packaging:
Founded in 1946, Atlantic Packaging is a third-generation, family-owned business providing innovative packaging solutions across North America. Guided by a profound commitment to the health of people and the planet, Atlantic launched A New Earth Project as an invitation to industry leaders, innovators, and changemakers to collaborate in accelerating the transition toward a healthier, more regenerative future.
About Eleven:
Eleven creates experiences that connect people to extraordinary places, cultures, and pursuits. From intimate lodges and expertly guided adventures to thoughtfully designed spaces, every detail reflects a commitment to craft and a deep connection to the natural world. On Iceland’s Troll Peninsula, Flóki Studios extends this philosophy into music: a world-class recording studio and record label set between volcanic peaks and the Arctic Ocean, where artists find space to create, connect, and be inspired.
About the North Atlantic Salmon Fund:
Founded in 1989 by Orri Vigfússon, NASF is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting wild Atlantic salmon through habitat preservation, fighting ocean salmon farming and closing unsustainable fisheries.
About wild Atlantic salmon:
A key focus of NASF’s work is fighting industrial salmon farming in order to restore wild Atlantic salmon populations. Wild Atlantic salmon is an indicator species, which means its health reflects the health of the ecosystems in which it lives. Wild Atlantic salmon populations have fallen 80% since the 1970s. Dams, climate change and pollution all play a role in the decline, but a leading threat is ocean-farmed salmon. 99% of the Atlantic salmon consumed globally is farmed in sea cages, where escapees, sea lice and waste spill into wild populations. Wild Atlantic salmon need healthy rivers, healthy oceans and a strong, supportive food web to help them thrive across an extraordinary lifecycle. When they disappear, they’re sounding a warning about habitat degradation.
###
Website: https://quoia.earth/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quoia.earth
Hi-Res Press Images
Adam Hymans
Resource Media
Why it matters: This collaboration signals a growing trend of artists leveraging their platforms for direct environmental fundraising, moving beyond mere awareness campaigns. By tying album sales to a specific conservation cause, QUOIA is testing whether music can be a sustainable engine for biodiversity restoration—a model that could be replicated in other threatened ecosystems worldwide.
