Photography by Svenja Ava.
After seven years, Paul Kalkbrenner returns with a new album The Essence, released today, 10 October 2025. Preceded by the single Dreaming On (out since 27 September), the 12-track LP captures what Kalkbrenner calls “the essential” – a body of work shaped quietly over several years, without a grand concept or rigid plan, just a return to the purest form of expression. While he has always been known for working alone, the few rare collaborations on this album hint at a new openness in his sound and process – a subtle evolution of a career that started when he was still a teenager.
Much of the new album was written in his ’70s retro apartment, a rather surprising setting, that somehow makes sense when he describes: “everything in there hums a bit, clicks a bit. Those small noises, that warmth, it influenced how I built the sound.” And although the playful, happy patterns of his home feel at odds with the general idea of electronic music, it is precisely that contrast that makes Kalkbrenner’s musical explorations so intriguing.
Photography by Svenja Ava.
Born and raised in Berlin, Kalkbrenner emerged from the city’s post-reunification electronic scene – a period defined by its raw freedom and cultural reconstruction. His music grew out of the same industrial landscapes that gave birth to the techno movement, but his sound has always stood apart: melodic yet austere, cinematic yet human. His live performances, often built entirely around his own productions, have redefined what electronic music can feel like on stage – deeply personal, physical, and immersive.
The original song titled Dream On was released in 2001 by Depeche Mode – birthed from an entirely different world, as it seems now in retrospect. The UK band, active since the 1980s, has shaped electronic music by hovering between pop songs and avant-garde explorations, with many of their tracks becoming touchstones in the evolution of the genre.
Photography by Maike Piorr.
Lead singer Dave Gahan once described Dream On as “one of those songs lyrically where it was a character that I was becoming, that I could be without all the misery. I could step into it, and step out.” Depeche Mode’s original lines – “do you know a little love?” and “dream on” – carry an undertone of escapism, or perhaps even self-sabotage, as if dreaming were the only refuge from an unbearable world. In its current remixed version, the fragmented vocal snippets, anchored within Kalkbrenner’s precise and propulsive framework, feel like a plea rather than an invitation. His remix transforms it into something distant, less personal – into what feels like a universal sentiment when looking back and realising that, much like in the 2001 music video, we still seem to be heading down the same path: a solitary road trip through a desolate landscape, haunted by ghostly figures and a horizon that never draws closer.
In Kalkbrenner’s hands, that journey continues – 24 years later – still reaching, still dreaming, still searching for the essence. Here, Dreaming On becomes less of an urge to escape, but an act of endurance – a way to survive the madness of the present moment.