Aquatic soundtrack resurfaces

We love when music has an interesting or romantic story accompanying it.
Something about creating under special circumstances infuses the music with an undercurrent of inevitability, as if its fruition was fate.

Perhaps Jürgen Müller’s “Science of the Sea” benefits from its strange circumstances, but the music is ultimately what makes this release worth examining.
“Science of the Sea” had its genesis in 1979 when Müller accompanied a crew filming an aquatic exploration.

Müller was fascinated by the sea and began to create an album of synthesized music based on his interpretation of aquatic environments.

Although Müller hoped to use his music to score films, his career never really took off. “Science of the Sea” was the only album he ever completed.

Fast forward to the present when one of the 100 copies of the album made its way to a record company, leading to its reissue.

It’s obvious from the album’s first notes that Müller owes a great debt to Brian Eno’s instrumental works — perhaps more to “Music for Films” than “Music for Airports.”
Like those scores for imagined films, these pieces score sea documentaries that have never existed.

Using old-fashioned synthesizers — a trend that’s currently in resurgence — Müller creates the sensation of gently flowing water and languorous jellyfish.

Perhaps Müller’s vision of the sea is a bit idealized, as none of these tracks depict any ruthlessness; but it’s easily forgivable and still a fascinating journey.

Too bad no one heard “Science of the Sea” in its heyday because a few more albums like this wouldn’t hurt.