Michael A. Muller

Michael A. Muller is a multi-instrumentalist and composer Based in Austin, Texas best known for his work with Balmorhea which he co-founded in 2006. After a decade of releases, worldwide tours and original compositions for ensemble, Muller began his solo production in 2017 with the score for feature-length documentary Less Than, which chronicles the plight of poverty in rural Texas.
2018 saw a collaborative release with renowned Dutch sound artist Machinefabriek for the 2nd volume of Neck - a risograph poetry & photo book series featuring Fred Moten, Nick Flynn, Garrett Grove and others.
In 2019, Lower River was released as his first studio album with companion reworks featuring Bing & Ruth, Masayoshi Fujita and Julia Kent among others. Lower River was pressed to vinyl and reworks to cassette by Portland’s Beacon Sound with both releases handled digitally by Sweden’s 1631 Recordings.
Conceptually, Lower River explores the place where time, space, and self are occluded — a field where ideas stream free from impediment. It is an exploration of what It means to deeply listen versus to merely hear.
Visually, Lower River was depicted in two films: one directed by Andrew Gallo featuring Ozark’s Marc Menchaca & an abstract film of a blizzard in Iceland by British artist Peter Liversidge. Muller also toured the audio and visuals in a gallery exhibit series in beginning in Berlin and closing in Los Angeles.
Adorning the cover of the album is a volcano in the Aeolian Islands made by Awoiska van der Molen on a 20-minute long exposure. The press photos for the project were made by award-winning photographer Matthew Genitempo on a large-format Chamonix in the desert of West Texas.
In 2020 Muller scored a short film by the Oregon State Poet Laureate Anis Mojgani entitled Come Back as well as a photo exhibit loop for Belgian photographer Julie Calbert and her Lumiere project.
In collaborative efforts, Muller has been commissioned for remixes and guest performances by such artists as Oathbreaker, Lymbyc Systym, Michael Price, Library Tapes & Thrill Jockey’s Golden Retriever among others.

Audio

Selected Press

One of the most epic journeys of sound.

  • Elizabeth Arker, BBC