Recondite

Born in the rural Bavarian district of Rottal-Inn, Lorenz Brunner records under the name Recondite and crafts lean yet intricate, melody-driven techno. Across the 2010s he honed a reflective, occasionally somber aesthetic that gradually incorporated more cinematic dimensions. His debut full-length, On Acid, arrived in 2012 and merged acid house with ambient techno textures; the follow-up Hinterland expanded that palette the next year, while Daemmerlicht in 2018 slowed the pace and adopted a brooding tone. Later projects Dwell (2020) and Taum (2022) introduced unexpected combinations of minimal techno with trap rhythms.

Recondite’s first release, a 12-inch pressed in an edition of 200 copies, appeared on his own Plangent imprint in February 2011. Two further EPs followed before the end of that year. After issuing a fourth EP the subsequent August, he placed “DRGN” on Scuba’s Hotflush label. Although 2012 proved relatively subdued, it nonetheless saw the appearance of On Acid via Acid Test. The ensuing year proved busier, yielding short releases on Dystopian, Midnight Shift, and Trolldans as well as Ghostly International, which issued the album Hinterland—his most emotionally resonant work to date—in November. A series of additional 12-inches preceded the 2014 album Iffy, released on Innervisions. During a highly productive stretch in 2015 and 2016 he returned to Acid Test with Placid and delivered EPs on Innervisions, Hotflush, and Ghostly. After the club-oriented Rainmaker EP surfaced on Afterlife in 2018, he issued the dark, subdued full-length Daemmerlicht on Plangent. Hotflush then released the Silk EP in 2019, and he rejoined Ghostly for Dwell in 2020, a collection of minimal techno alongside icy downtempo pieces. Taum, released in 2022, placed greater emphasis on slower material shaped by trap and grime.