Michael A. Muller Mirror Music 180g LP

Tracking Angle Rated 9/10 Music, 9/10 Sound!

Balmorhea co-founder and multi-instrumentalist Michael A. Muller deepens his compositional exploration with Mirror Music, his debut full-length for Deutsche Grammophon. A study in reflection, the album features 10 tracks created in collaboration with 11 international artists. Each piece initiated from a foundation of Muller's ambient compositions, written on Mellotron, Oberheim Two-Voice synthesizer and Rhodes organ. He then invited a hand-picked group of fellow artists to contribute to specific tracks. Mirror Music opens with tactile, open-tuned 12-string guitar from Danny Paul Grody, segueing into shimmering pedal steel guitar from Chuck Johnson, then into Vestals' operatic apparitions. Further tracks feature the breathy bass clarinet of Jonathan Sielaff and guitar from Ilyas Ahmed; the lonesome desert timbres of Tortoise's Douglas McCombs; skittering rhythms from Indonesian-Australian percussionist Rama Parwata; modular synthesized reflections from Jefre Cantu-Ledesma; sonorous vocals from Hania Rani; soft, reverberant synthesis from Jon Porras; and emotive cello from Clarice Jensen.

From the very first spin, this album has been an immersive, audio-sensual delight that has been reaffirmed and intensified with each subsequent listen.