Nearly twenty years after their last full-length album Lost & Found (1998 – 2000) on Shitkatapult, Tom Thiel and Max Loderbauer return as Sun Electric with Episodes, a six-part work built entirely from recordings made on the 1960s Subharchord synthesizer. Issued by the Belgian label De:tuned, the album marks a renewed period of collaboration for the Berlin duo, supported by the Studio for Electroacoustic Music of the Akademie der Künste.
Sun Electric has long been associated with hypnotic construction, and Episodes reinforces that reputation with quiet authority. The structures begin in restraint. Simple tonal frameworks establish space and pacing, while layers gradually accumulate. Subtle shifts in texture, tone, and harmonic density transform the landscape without ever breaking its continuity. Repetition functions not as stasis but as deepening motion; each return is slightly altered, and each cycle expands the internal architecture.
The Subharchord synthesizer is central to the album’s identity. This rare East German instrument, originally developed for studio and broadcast applications, generates distinctive subharmonic structures with remarkable warmth and density. Sun Electric draw from its character with patience. The tones are rounded, saturated, and sun lit at their edges, yet at times distant and cosmic. Radiance and detachment coexist within the same frame.
Episode I opens the album in a restrained ambient register, establishing the record’s core vocabulary. Deep, steady bass anchors the track while more vaporous elements hover above, gradually expanding the harmonic space. The pacing allows subtle tonal shifts to emerge without haste, inviting focused attention.
A haunting melodic progression surfaces in Episode II, where sparse figures interact with pulsing low frequencies. At moments, the composition leans toward a subtle hauntological character, balancing eeriness with structural coherence and the duo’s trademark minimalism.
The mood broadens in Episode III, evoking suspended motion through dark, remote space. Triplet bass figures repeat with mechanical precision, reinforced by low rumbling tones reminiscent of distant engines. Tension is maintained through density and layering, creating an immersive, meditative sonic environment.
In Episode IV, the album adopts a slower thematic contour that evokes ambient science fiction in slow motion. Harmonic layers glide past one another with careful spacing, producing a cinematic atmosphere that remains abstract yet vividly textured.
Episode V centers on a deep repeating bass foundation, over which sparse found sound recordings appear like distant fragments. High-register chords enter gradually, drenched in reverberation, adding vertical dimension and contrast that enrich the composition’s internal balance.
The album closes with Episode VI, where pulsating bass forms the backbone of a groove-inflected arrangement. High, delicate notes articulate the upper register while sustained pad-like chords from the Subharchord provide continuity. The track reinforces the duo’s aesthetic while delivering a satisfying conclusion for long-time listeners.
Throughout Episodes, Sun Electric demonstrate disciplined control over pacing, texture, and tonal development. As with all their work, the album’s greatest strength lies in gradual transformation, in the careful accumulation of minute detail, and in the sustained depth of its low-frequency architecture. Within these parameters, the duo operate at full capacity.
Episodes reaffirms Sun Electric’s distinctive voice within electronic music. The album is focused, coherent, and meticulously constructed, reflecting both their history and their continued exploration. In every respect, this is the duo in peak form.
Episode by Sun Electric was released 27th of February 2026 on De-tuned
