Mathias Kunzli turns drumming into composition on solo percussion album

Adhyâropa Records released Boundless Reasons To Admire The Moon, a 17-track freely improvised solo percussion album from Mathias Kunzli, on June 29. The record lands in a different lane from the usual drum showcase because Kunzli is not using the kit to support a band, but to build melody, tension, and shape on his own.

Kunzli’s résumé makes that move feel natural rather than indulgent. He has been Regina Spektor’s touring drummer since 2012, and his biography credits him with work alongside Lauryn Hill, Moby, Yo-Yo Ma, Ken Burns, Kimbra, Rhiannon Giddens, Vieux Farka Toure, John Zorn, Marc Ribot, and others. That range matters here. A player who has moved from pop to jazz, experimental music, film, and television has spent years learning how to make rhythm serve very different kinds of storytelling.

The album is identified on Adhyâropa Records and Bandcamp as ÂR00195, and both descriptions frame it as a solo percussion release. Johnny Gandelsman also offers a direct endorsement of Kunzli’s musicianship, praising his gentle touch, imagination, and attentive ears. Those are the traits that give a record like this its shape: not volume, but control; not flash, but phrasing.

Kunzli’s path into that language began early. He was born in Switzerland and started playing drums at 13. After receiving two scholarships to Berklee College of Music, he moved to New York City, later splitting his time between Los Angeles and New York City. His touring history with Spektor included an arena run opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, a reminder that his career has already stretched from intimate sessions to major stages.

That breadth shows up in the places his biography names as part of his live life: Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Montreux Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, and Outside Lands. Boundless Reasons To Admire The Moon pulls all of that experience into a stripped-down format where every attack, rest, and texture has to carry the form. For drummers who think of solo records as technical displays, Kunzli offers a different model here: the drum kit as composition, with color and narrative doing as much work as pulse.