For additional information, Bio & Pictures please visit www.andremu.com
André Müller, a.k.a. aNDREmu, was born in Switzerland and moved on to live and work in Vienna in 1997. He is a multi-instrumentalist (Chapman Stick, electric bass, piccolo bass, piano, guitar) and a composer.
Today he focuses mainly on the rather “exotic” Chapman Stick*. As a virtuoso player, aNDREmu is exploring the full sonic range of this unusual instrument.
aNDREmu's musical trajectory began at the age of nine, when he started taking classical piano lessons. However, he soon discovered his love for the low notes, which led him to pick up the electric bass in 1983. He has been working intensively with this instrument ever since.
He went on to study at the American Institute of Music in Vienna (he was the only musician of the class of 1994 to graduate with the highest distinction, the Professional Diploma) and at the jazz department of the Lucerne School of Music (from which he graduated in 1997, after only three years of studies).
In his search for new possibilities of musical expression, aNDREmu discovered the Chapman Stick around the turn of the millennium. This new instrument dovetailed perfectly with aNDREmu's musical vision.
During his performances, aNDREmu alternates between Chapman Stick and electric bass. He uses a looper to record certain sections of his songs on the fly and then add further layers of music on top. This way, aNDREmu creates vast musical landscapes that take the listener full circle from spherical sonic spaces to hot rhythms and back again. In addition to solo performances, duo projects (with Chapman Stick or bass and vocals) are a second major facet of aNDREmu's work.
* The Chapman Stick, named after its inventor, Emmett Chapman, is an electric, fretted string instrument. It consists of a large, wide fingerboard with twelve strings and no additional body branching out of it. Thus, it is basically a guitar and a bass guitar neck merged into a single instrument. (www.stick.com)
:: CD releases
aNDREmu (2010): The music on this album ranges from instrumental, loop-based pieces for solo bass and Chapman Stick to more cinematic, ambient compositions with vocals and layers of melodies.
Lefthand Bass Compilation (2010)
Under Water EP (2006): Most of aNDREmu’s first album has been recorded using the Chapman Stick. He has used an Echoplex Digital Pro for looping.
Chapman Stick Compilation (2006): The first German Stick Players Compilation presents 16 songs from different Stick players from Germany (and one from Austria), showing the wide diversity of their music. Emmet Chapman, the inventor of the Chapman Stick, said about this compilation:
“Everyone will have different favorites, of course, but mine are: ... Finally Home - Mueller's solo melodic style and his use of sustain for selected melody notes...”
:: CD review
tokafi.com, 13. Juli 2010, by Matthias Knoll
Harmony beyond mainstream boredom: More than just a bass record.
There are probably two extreme poles of a bass player’s approach to a solo record. One is an ostensible demonstration of technical skills, virtuosity and enhancements of the instrument's known capacities - in its most advanced form probably inedible for a non-musician audience (and in fairness for the rest as well). Then, there's an entirely different way to get heard: A sometimes implausible stretch to reach a wider audience by trying to please mainstream demands. This has often failed miserably as we know, leading even to a loss of credibility on the artist's side. As with most things happening nowadays, it has become quite unfashionable to stay on a healthy, balanced middle path, let things dwell and develop in their own place at their natural pace.
André Müller, born in Switzerland and living in Vienna, became known to a wider audience as a very “musical” chapman stick player, most notably on some European loop festivals and has also garnered some attention with his other band project “Muellers Message”. Since he decided to focus completely on producing his debut release nearly two years ago, he’s been continuously publishing his song sketches during the production period, which already gave a hint of what to expect: highly balanced, sometime melancholic compositions that were mainly recorded with electric bass and chapman stick.
All but unnoticeably and clearly in a bid for quality, André Müller expanded most of today’s playing techniques for the electric bass, employing new tunings, polyphonic playing (also on chapman stick) picking and so forth for his first record, resulting in a very warm, organic as well as dynamic sound. The common listener, not intoxicated with too much technical knowledge might even wonder why those “guitars” have such a warm and thick sound... It really
takes some time and close listening to hear those twists and beautiful details that lift the material above the trivial and that’s a good thing, a very good thing indeed.
But it’s simply more than just a bass record. The guest singers on nearly half of the songs broaden the spectrum: touching ambient, progressive rock, a little bit of softer jazz (luckily not too much) and even the never dying pop song. Everything is recorded very clearly, precisely and nothing is overcooked with effects, but just decently lifted up. Personally I tend to the instrumental pieces, especially “the Wizard” with its compositional and atmospheric shifting and ambient qualities. “Andremu” is not a bass drone record but based on grooves, composition and precisely played rhythms.
It’s the above mentioned “middle path” that makes the record sympathetic, and rarely did I enjoy simply listening to music as I did with this record, especially with the instrumental pieces. It is a recommendation for both bass players and listeners who appreciate and search for this quality in today’s music, looking for harmony beyond mainstream boredom.
:: Concert review
1st International Loopfestival Zürich im Moods 26. Aug. 2005
von Rick Walker www.looppool.info
... Andre Mueller is an accomplished Chapman stick player from Switzerland who plays a blend of very consonant ambient and melodic music. I tend not to like this kind of music, personally, but Andre is really good at it and really has very nice compositions. One thing he does that I find lacking in a lot of loopers is that he actually plays melodies, themes and has discernable song structures with beginnings and endings. He also brings quite a lot of fans and gets not only the first standing ovation and encore of the festival but also, incredibly, sells out every single one of his CDs. This is amazing! ...
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