Composer and producer Andert Tysma to release Parallels

Composer and producer Andert Tysma will release his new studio album Parallels on October 23rd on Apollo Records. Parallels was written in Amsterdam, Berlin, near a former concentration camp, and in the former home of composer Simeon ten Holt. The day before its release Andert Tysma will be performing at the Planetarium in Artis during Amsterdam Dance Event. The new single Savoy, for Rajshri is now out.

Andert Tysma works at the intersection of contemporary classical music, ambient electronics and soundscapes. Using (modular) synthesizers and acoustic instruments, he creates music in which memories, places and human experiences converge in layered, immersive compositions. Following Children of Trinoom (2022) and Hana (2024), is this third album his most personal work to date. Parallels grew out of an idea that has occupied Tysma for years: every life consists of the choices we make as well as the possibilities we leave behind. The paths we do not take never disappear entirely. They remain with us as memory, longing or imagination and, often almost imperceptibly, continue to shape who we become. Relationships change, places continue to form us, and memories take on different meanings over time. These parallel lines lie at the heart of the album.

Tysma's own life is perhaps the clearest example. After a year at the conservatory, he chose to study medicine, driven by a sense of responsibility and expectation. Music never disappeared, although for a long time he felt that eventually he would have to choose between these two worlds. Over time, he came to see the value of allowing them to coexist. As both a composer and a doctor, he moves between two disciplines that have more in common than might initially seem. Both require attentive listening, careful observation and a curiosity about what moves people. They run as parallel lines through his life, each following its own direction while continually influencing the other.

Places, too, have left their traces on Parallels. Moving from Amsterdam to Berlin marked an important turning point. Modular synthesizers, processed acoustic instruments and layered electronic textures became increasingly central to his work. Both cities continue to resonate in his music in their own ways. Another formative period was a residency in the former home of composer Simeon ten Holt. Working every day in that surrounding, brought Tysma closer to an important source of inspiration and marked a personal turning point. After a period in which he had barely composed, he found the space to write music again. This interplay between place, memory and emotion runs throughout the album. One of the compositions was written close to the former Theresienstadt concentration camp, without Tysma being aware of it at the time. Only later did the piece's dark atmosphere and the history of the place unexpectedly converge. Experiences like these feed his fascination with the darker side of human existence, and with the ways loss, vulnerability and beauty can appear simultaneously. “Parallels is an honest document of a specific moment in time. Perhaps our parallel lives do not exist somewhere else. Perhaps they live on as echoes in the person we ultimately become.” - says Andert Tysma

The new single Savoy, for Rajshri is about the intensity with which we can love someone: the tenderness of love, but also the sadness it can hold. It is about the longing to return to a moment that now exists only in memory, while reality has moved on. Listen to the song below.

Following his previous releases, Tysma toured extensively throughout Europe and beyond. He has performed at international festivals, supported Yann Tiersen at shows including London's Barbican Centre, collaborated with artists from a range of disciplines, and regularly composed at Berlin's Funkhaus Studios. These experiences, too, have added new layers to his musical world. On 22 October Andert Tysma will be performing a special release show during ADE at the Planetarium in Artis, with visuals by Julius Horsthuis.

9 Oct Bar Gallia, Pantin (FR)

10 Oct Fortuna Vlieland, Vlieland (NL)

22 Oct ADE - Planetarium / Artis, Amsterdam (NL)

24 Oct Morphine Raum, Berlijn (DE)

20 Nov Explore The North, Leeuwarden (NL)

21 Feb TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht (NL)