he started listening to prog bands like marillion, genesis, supertramp or jethro tull at a young age. then grunge was his biggest influence for distorted guitars and also the passion for playing drums, in an old and dusty village barn, was born. later he was lucky enough to be part of a jam session in a rehearsal room, from which the band developed under the name 'hoek'. initially on drums, he switched to the microphone. Not much came of it, but some minidisc recorder recordings have survived.
subsequently, 'jobiwan' was formed, a project between birger, hoek's guitarist, and joerg. birger wrote the music, joerg the vocals. the recordings were made in birger's basement in his home studio. important moments.
in 1999, when he discovered the band porcupine tree and the back catalog of steven wilson, his musical horizon expanded very quickly and a personal need grew to compose his own music all by himself. during this time, electronic music and artists from this field also became a prominent part of his musical influences. creating and composing music as a catalyst for things in life. the good and the bad. he collected different instruments and tried to extract sounds from them, recording them without any knowledge or knowledge of music theory. just the ear and the feeling. the quality of the productions have changed considerably to this day, so that he can be very proud of his current release 'album with no name'.
the individual albums by eXpAnDiNg wAtEr are very different due to many musical influences from other musicians, bands or artists. his own spotify playlist serves the best overview here to illustrate the different musical styles.
