Lorenz Brunner, the artist better known as Recondite, is up next in our Ask the Experts series, following on from Moby and Daedelus, whose answers will drop imminently.

Few producers can elicit as much emotion with their music as Brunner. He grew up in a rural Bavarian neighborhood, surrounded by forests and fields that became deep-rooted inspirations for his minimal, melancholic, and contemplative compositions. 

He was introduced to electronic music in 2005 via Superpitcher’s mix CD Today, becoming instantly enamored by the music’s atmospheric quality and sparse use of melody. Within no more than 12 months, he had committed himself to a life as a musician, studying hard to teach himself the ropes of production, before continuing his pursuit with a move to Berlin in 2009. Later that year, he launched his own Plangent Recordings label, where he released his first EPs, titled Plangent #001 and Plangent #002, before his debut album, On Acid, landed in 2012, giving Brunner his first taste of international attention and attracting the interest of US imprint Ghostly International, who would go on to release his second album, Hinterland, in 2013. 

Around this time, Brunner was also gaining the support of DJs in the techno world thanks to tracks like “Cleric” on Dystopian and “DRGN” on Hotflush. Following this, Recondite’s third album Iffy arrived on acclaimed German label Innervisions. He’s since shared two more full-lengths, 2015’s Placid and 2018’s Daemmerlicht, a 12-track effort that sees Brunner combine his love of instrumental hip-hop and downbeat with ambient and classical music. 

As a live act, Brunner is similarly established. His sets, which feature only a laptop and consist entirely of original material, are powerful, entrancing, and emotionally provocative affairs, with messages of happiness, sadness, melancholy, and anger all wrapped up into one. He was voted Resident Advisor‘s number one live act in 2014. 

Whether it be playing live, production, label management, or just about anything else, all questions should be sent to asktheexperts@xlr8r.com with “Recondite” as the subject line. We’ll pass them along to Brunner who will then select his favorites, and soon we’ll publish his answers.

Recondite will be performing at this year’s Sonus Festival alongside Charlotte de Witte, Rødhåd, Praslesh, Rhadoo, Sonja Moonear, and many more. This year’s edition runs from August 19 to 23 on Zrce Beach, Croatia, with more information available here.