From a single melody, the experimental percussionist summons a vocal-based storm.

Jon Mueller has remained prolific and ever changing with his bands Death Blues and Volcano Choir, but his upcoming solo effort, Tongues, is entirely unexplored country.

Over a foundation of primal percussion, each side of the record ritualistically piles layers of vocals all built around one central melody. That melody was stuck in Mueller’s head for months before he began to develop Tongues, a quality that fills the album with a fanatical fervor.

“The longer I thought about it, the more I started thinking about what other vocals could work with it, and what percussion might support it and carry it to other phrases,” he says. It’s a quality that carries Tongues to its ominous peaks, but it’s also what makes the project very personal.

“I think the voice is as close as an instrument can get to a person, and due to that, this record is much closer to me than anything I’ve done before,” he says.

Today you can experience the first side of Tongues, ‘How You Look When You’re Not Looking’, a 15-minute exploration of that curious melodic catalyst which still remains a mystery to Mueller: “I still don’t know what inspired that persistent melody, and it kind of haunts me even when I hear it now”.

Listen below and look for Tongues May 27 via Rhythmplex.