Dear Dirty America

 A skeptic might cast aspersions on the tale behind Jürgen Müller‘s Science of the Sea. The story begins at the University of Kiel in Germany, where the self-taught composer was studying oceanic science in the late 1970s. Müller purchased some electronic instruments and set them up on his houseboat in the town of Heikendorf, where he began crafting instrumental pieces that reflected his love of undersea life. His dream of selling those compositions to film and TV companies for use in documentaries never transpired. But Müller did press fewer than 100 vinyl copies of the recordings in the early 80s and titled them Science of the Sea, giving most of the albums away to friends and family. Fast forward three decades and a copy of the record ends up in the hands of Digitalis Recordings, just as a resurgence of interest in the type of new age recordings Müller was practicing is taking place.

One intrepid blog commenter even claims to have contacted the University of Kiel and found no trace of Müller’s presence.

 That blog commenter is brown beard, and the comment was left at Holy Warbles:

I emailed a retired oceanography professor at University of Kiel named Thomas J. Müller (where “science of the sea” Müller was supposed to have studied). This professor was interested in ocean frequencies, spent a lot of time on cruises in the 70s,, etc. I thought it was surely him. But…he said he wasn’t the guy. Also, he said he had been at Kiel since 1967 and involved in student research since then and doesn’t remember a Jürgen Müller, nor does the Kiel website recognize the name. So…the story might be a hoax….but gawdamn what a nice album!