Rutger Muller Ensemble – Wen Chin Fu, Josephine Bode and Rutger Muller – roam around in the mystical grey zone between meditative and uncanny sound. By using improvisation, live sound processing, unorthodox instrumental techniques, historical references, and theatrical elements, the ensemble’s compositions either dissolve, or expand, time-space duality. Their debut album 'Protokols' is an exploration of contemporary mysticism: it aims to find catharsis in the dark energy between anxiety and spirituality. Meditative elements are contrasted with dissonance, distortion, instability and atonality, to confront the stress and complexity of contemporary culture, technology and life. Founded in 2013, Rutger Muller Ensemble bases its music on ambient abstractions of all members' influences. The group therefore finds its strength in subtle fluctuations, counterpoints and historical references. Muller sets the composition process in motion by generating one or more drone layers, based on processed samples of acoustic instruments or found sounds. Subsequently, during rehearsals, Josephine Bode and Wen Chin Fu interact with this backdrop, and develop an improvisation idiom (sometimes based on theatrical roles). Parts of these studio recordings are processed and integrated into the base of the composition, until an ethereal sound world is crystallized.