Within The Within
Albany, 2021
8/10
The highly creative composer, percussionist and multimedia artist Jeremy Muller brings a wealth of sounds to the table here, including clay, wood and plastic, among many others, as he emits soothing, organic noises, video game-esque ideas and plenty of iconoclastic percussion, too.
Alexandre Lunsqui’s “Materiali: Dentro do dentro” starts the listen and displays Muller’s atypical percussive ways, where plenty of noisemakers enter a very curious delivery, and “Temazcal” follows with maracas and electroacoustic sounds being manipulated with mystery in an almost sci-fi sort of fashion in the Javier Alvarez composition.
In the middle, the aptly titled “Pitch Vs. Computer”, by Cristyn Magnus, blends vibraphone with interactive electronics for a very playful and bright moment of cautious exploration, while Herbert Brun’s “Stalks And Trees And Drops And Clouds” welcomes percussion and 7 reverberating and 6 non-reverberating instruments for an ominous appeal that tweaks space and tension accordingly.
Matthew Burtner’s “Glisten Of Places” exits the listen, and recruits percussion and geotagged soundscape recordings into the unconventional finish that bridges firm percussive sounds with nature.
A truly innovative effort, this is actually Muller’s debut solo album, although he has a lengthy resume playing in America, Canada and Australia, and he brings that vast experience and talent to a very exceptional body of work.
Travels well with: Ingrid Arauco- Resonances; David Holzman- Musical Connections