Jon Mueller - The Whole

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5...according to our Phil on Thu 07 Oct, 2010.

Jon Mueller has a new album out on Type. I used to be a massive fan of Pele back in the days when I were a nipper. After Pele he went on to do Collections of Colonies of Bees who were also a bit useful. These days he's been doing his own thing on Table Of The Elements and hanging around with Bon Iver. And of course Type who have picked him up for an album. Jon's a percussionist so his music is unsurprisingly very percussive. 'Hearts' is a mantric percussive tune with layered chanting vocals. It's totally hypnotic and you can't but fail to be sucked into it's ample charm over it's 13 minute course. Hands is another long tune clocking in at just under 10 minutes which centres around a superb syncopated drum beat and a hammered dulcimer. It's mesmeric stuff and one of the best things I've heard on Type in ages. Excellent!

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Type debut for noted percussionist Jon Mueller, regularly found on the esteemed Table Of The Elements label.

Mueller has collaborated extensively with Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver among many others.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LIMITED VINYL EDITION COMES WITH A BONUS 30 MINUTE ALBUM - “THE WHOLE” – MIXED BY OLIVIA BLOCK

The Whole’ might be avant-percussionist Jon Mueller’s first album for the Type imprint but it’s far from his scene debut. Working in a plethora of bands for many years (including ‘Collections of Colonies of Bees’ and ‘Volcano Choir’ with Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver), Mueller has honed his sound to a distinct peak, and over the course of umpteen solo albums and collaborations has cemented his status as one of experimental music’s most revered drummers.

Following his epic works ‘Metals’ (a collection of classic heavy metal rhythms) and the expansive and surprisingly beautiful ‘Physical Changes’, both for the esteemed Table of the Elements label, Mueller embarked on the heady process of creating a ‘defining’ work. Intrigued by ideas of simplicity and acoustic sound, Mueller’s research drew him to Shaker crafts and quilt making, both deceptively simple practices rooted in the transmission of ideas. Over time these experiences were interpreted in many different ways, almost certainly inaccurately, and this miscommunicated simplicity is at the very centre of ‘The Whole’. Through a rolling, unamplified snare drum (a piece of kit perfected over a year of intense practice), booming low toms, hammered dulcimer and his own voice, Mueller creates a sound that is wholly original and totally beguiling. There are traces of folk traditions and lines drawn to the avant garde idiom but Mueller’s sound is so singularly perfected it is hard to connect him to specific peers.

The Whole’ is an album that sounds like both a relic of the past and an echo of the future. The ideas are anchored in memory and tradition, yet the sound is alien and sometimes impenetrable. Over time, as the messages are stripped back, an unabashedly gorgeous piece of work is revealed. Like a good book, it requires patience and contemplation to show its beating heart.