Hamburg-based multi-instrumentalist and producer The Offline (aka Felix Müller) expands his hip‑hop‑leaning, library‑tinged cinematic universe with La grande évasion, his second full-length album for DeepMatter Records, out Friday 28th November on digital and vinyl. Rooted in memory, photography, place and inner travel, the record plays like a carefully sequenced journey, inviting listeners to step out of everyday life and into a richly imagined world.
The Offline’s story began on the Atlantic coastline of southern France, where Müller roamed with an analogue camera, capturing beach life on film and later composing music as a sonic counterpart to those images. His debut EP En Clair‑Obscur distilled that experience into a cool, hazy summer soundtrack, followed by La couleur de la mer, a self‑styled score to a film yet to be made, and Les Cigales, a project steeped in the mysticism of Marseille. Along the way, his work has drawn support from tastemakers including Huey Morgan and Deb Grant (BBC Radio 6 Music) and Tony Minvielle (Jazz FM).
On La grande évasion, The Offline pushes his aesthetic further, using his trademark blend of dusty beats, 60s/70s‑inspired textures and cinematic arrangements to explore one of storytelling’s oldest themes: the journey of escape and self‑discovery. “La grande évasion (the great escape) is an escape into music,” he explains, “giving the listener the opportunity to be in other places through imagination alone.” Across the album, he charts departure, daring, beauty, the unknown, and the bittersweet return home, with each track feeling like a chapter in a larger narrative.
Lead single Boulevard National returns to the streets of Marseille, the city that inspired 2024’s Les Cigales EP. Drawing on Anatolian psych and West Coast surf influences, it captures the pulse of a city alive with multicultural energy, contrasts and character. Nikonos V pays direct homage to the analogue photography that birthed The Offline project in the first place. Breezy and groove‑laced, with a warmth that will appeal to fans of Khruangbin, Offthewally and Tommy Guerrero, it’s named after the underwater film camera that accompanies Müller on coastal explorations – the same camera used to shoot the album’s cover art.
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Things take a more surreal turn on Le trip, a woozy, breakbeat‑flecked excursion featuring a soaring saxophone improvisation from long‑time collaborator Kimo Eiserbeck. Sitting somewhere between boom‑bap, vintage Japanese jazz‑funk and BADBADNOTGOOD, it imagines a psychedelic detour through sound – playful, disorienting and deeply atmospheric. When it’s time to land and reflect, La belle en lumière provides the emotional centrepiece of the record: a romantic ballad that rises from soft Rhodes chords and a steady groove into the sweeping, horn‑led drama that has become The Offline’s calling card.
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Thematically and stylistically, La grande évasion is more open than its predecessors, yet it remains firmly within The Offline cosmos, with subtle nods to the music of the 60s and 70s and a strong sense of visual storytelling. It’s an album that rewards close, front‑to‑back listening, offering a coherent narrative while leaving plenty of space for the listener’s own imagination.
With this release, The Offline confirms himself as a distinctive voice in contemporary instrumental music – one who can sit comfortably alongside the likes of Surprise Chef, Khruangbin, and The Alchemist, while continuing to carve out his own evocative, cinematic lane.
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Images provided courtesy of DeepMatter Records
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