Herzog | Muche | Nillesen is a trio featuring Matthias Muche (trombone), Etienne Nillesen (extended snare drum), and Constantin Herzog (double bass). Their music operates in the liminal space between improvisation and composition, where shifting textures and microtonal structures unfold in slow- motion transformations. Drawing on minimalist, spectral, and extended instrumental techniques, their sound is less about individual gestures and more about emergent sonic phenomena— where the interplay of overtones, resonances, and microtonal frictions creates an immersive, constantly evolving environment. Their new album, Anasýnthesi, embodies this approach both conceptually and sonically. The term “anasýnthesi” (ἀνασύνθεση) is Greek for “recomposition” or “reconstruction”—a process of deconstructing and reassembling elements into new, unexpected forms. This notion is central to the trio’s artistic practice: rather than following predefined trajectories, they engage in an open-ended negotiation of sonic material, where structure is a consequence of interaction rather than a guiding principle.
Each musician contributes a unique palette of extended techniques and unconventional approaches: Muche explores the trombone’s microtonal and multiphonic potential, shifting seamlessly between pure tones and complex noise textures. Herzog subverts the traditional role of the double bass with alternative bowing techniques, detuned harmonics, and spectral-based pitch structures. Nillesen pushes the snare drum beyond its percussive function, utilizing resonance control and Just Intonation-inspired tunings to unlock its melodic and harmonic capacities.
Through this lens, Anasýnthesi is not a piece in the traditional sense, but rather a study in emergent form—a sonic ecosystem where hierarchical distinctions between melody, rhythm, and texture dissolve, leaving behind a music that breathes, shifts, and reorganizes itself in real-time. Over the years, the trio has collaborated with artists and composers such as Nate Wooley, Sofia Jernberg, Madison Greenstone, Marta Warelis, Anna Webber, Christian Wolff, and many others. While external collaborations have left their mark, their recent focus has been on refining the intricacies of their trio sound—where each player’s individual language remainsdistinct, yet the music unfolds as a collective, continuously morphing entity.
Anasýnthesi is as much a process as it is an album—an exploration of unstable structures, frictional counterpoint, and the organic dissolution of form into sound. It is a music of flux, where listening is as much about the transformation of the material as it is about the material itself.
