Efdemin - Poly

Label: Ostgut Ton – OSTGUTLP38
Format: Vinyl, 2 x 12", Album
Country: Germany
Released: Nov 11, 2025
Genre: Electronic
Style: Deep Techno, Techno

After a six-year hiatus, German producer Efdemin makes a powerful return with POLY, his fifth studio album on recently revived Ostgut Ton, the iconic imprint closely affiliated with Berghain.

The album builds and flows like a DJ set, ramping up the energy from the opening cacophony of “Drift” that brings in unsettled vocal samples, crisp beats, and atmospheric synths. The rhythms of “Trophic Cascade” echo from wall to wall, showcasing an ace minimal dance sound that’s infectious in its simplicity. ‘Poly’ builds to higher BPMs while maintaining a claustrophobic mood, with the centerpiece being the stunning sci-fi techno of “Microphase”. Its hypnotic, saturated production rumbles like an earthquake.

While ‘Poly’ is rooted in the techno sphere, a handful of tracks act as an expert synthesis of the academic side of Efdemin’s production with his clubbier instincts honed behind the decks. Opening with live cymbal rides that quickly mutate back and forth between synths and electronic percussion, the title track is a headphone brain melter that utilizes all the speaker space to send sounds bouncing and rattling throughout the mix.

The closer “Below the Surface” is a fitting coda to the album. Reverb-dripped synths and industrial percussive snaps lend the track a downtempo mood, hastening the listener from the unity of the club out into a disorienting return to reality.

Effortlessly melding strands of experimental sonics with club-ready beats, Efdemin used the intervening years refining his approach to the studio and studying the functional applications of his sounds to the late night and early morning party crowds. With his confident, deft approach to production and sound design, Phillip Sollmann has unleashed his best work as Efdemin. ‘Poly’ is engaging, mesmerising, and an easy contender for one of the best techno albums of the year.

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1. Drift
2. Poly
3. Signal to Noise
4. Rauris
5. Trophic Cascade
6. Aachen
7. Microphase
8. Radical Hope
9. Irrlicht
10. Lost Somewhere in the Day
11. Below the Surface