Having knocked us off the balance with Socratic questioning on their cosmic avant-trance prologue ‘Warum’ (Engl. why), German synth-duo Felsmann + Tiley (Dominik Felsmann and Patrick Tiley) share the first single ‘Open Fields’ (out July 17th via Embassy One) featuring Brisbane solo artist The Kite String Tangle (Danny Harley). Peeling back a new layer of their upcoming album ‘Protomensch’ (out 13 February 2026), ‘Open Fields’ is a vocal driven synthwave ballad encouraging us to embrace the glass-half-full optimist within and play the hand that we have been dealt with by fate.
Underpinned by symbolism, Open fields represent fertile soil surrounded by barren plains and craggy mountains, where – if cultivated and looked after – seeds of hope may take root and start to grow. “If ‘Warum’ asked “Why do we exist?”, ‘Open Fields’ replies: “I can’t give you the answer, but here’s the only patch in the world where you can actually plant something,” Felsmann and Tiley recap. “It’s about us as Hope Machines. The odds can be stacked against us, and we still plough through, fuelled by irrational optimism, necessary for our survival.”
This ray of hope shines from this life into the next during the chorus. It is in the Homeric depiction where we can take comfort in knowing that the loved ones we have lost too soon will continue to live on in our hearts every step of the way: ‘Oh, these open fields where I’ll meet you / Will be worlds apart, but I’ll see you / Radiating through the cracks, just light intertwined’.
‘Oh, these open fields where I’ll meet you
Will be worlds apart, but I’ll see you
Radiating through the cracks, just light intertwined’
On their home ground with trademark minimalist, percussionless take on neo-classical synthwave, the duo are well aware of the artistic payoffs. “When you speak quietly, people lean in. It’s the same with music,” Felsmann and Tiley argue. “With fewer elements, the subtleties of the words, vocal delivery, and evolving synth textures become more present.“ A composition built on delicate yet striking balance between absence and presence, life and death, love and loss, Felsmann and Tiley “wanted the song to be pervaded by tension, opposing forces locked in perpetual motion.”
Life imitating art once again, the collaborative process led Felsmann and Tiley to an unmapped territory they had not treaded on before hitting the studio with Danny Harley and embarking on a writing sprint together. “We wanted that extra dimension not only for the audible result but also to challenge ourselves from a production and songwriting standpoint,” the duo explains. “Danny added an entirely new dimension to the instrumental, and hearing his vision take shape in real time felt special. As part of the live feedback cycle, we encouraged him to try alternative vocal deliveries, pushing him beyond his usual style. The final result preserves that in-person magic, which simply wouldn’t have happened the same way remotely.”
About Felsmann + Tiley
How long can an artist with an instantly recognizable sound stay anonymous? For years, apparently. Take Felsmann + Tiley’s reinterpretation of M83’s ‘Solitude’, a track that has over 200 million streams to date. Very few of those listeners know the evolution of the German producer-duo’s drumless synthwave melding Cliff Martinez-style maximum emotional impact with Nils Frahm’s neoclassical minimalism. Slated for release in February 2026, their upcoming album ‘Protomensch’ is an audiovisual statement on the absurdity of modern existence.
Having met by happenstance in 2003 on a German music production forum, Felsmann + Tiley soon discovered they shared a lot more than their hometown of Stuttgart. “We were attracted to the depth and melancholy of trance pads and breakdowns that always had a certain darkness to them.” Their 12-inch ‘Kamui – Ghosts’ was the start of a string of highly energetic club sound releases, reflecting their youth at the time. And then from 2006 onwards, they also started touring and doing DJ gigs around the world.
After a five year creative break, Felsmann + Tiley was formed in 2017. “We were having a conversation over the phone and said: Let’s try something new and mix what we like best about electronic, neo-classical and film music, and give ourselves the conceptual constraint of not using drums and percussions and see what happens.” What started off as a pitch deck full of big ideas and even bigger visions would take eight years to grow into an ambitious, all-out artistic vision involving immersive live experiences and a social commentary on the current state of the world.
Looking back on the duo’s body of work, the early signs of major success were there from the start. One of the standout tracks called ‘October’ off their debut album ‘Tempora’ (2018), a 21st century take on Vivaldi’s cyclical ‘Four Seasons’, was featured on late Andrew Weatherall’s final radio show for NTS Radio and Michel Gaubert’s set for the Swedish fashion house Acne Studios.
By contrast, their follow up EP ‘Weltschmerz’, a pitch-perfect post-mortem on clubland during Covid-lockdown, was nothing short of homecoming. “At the time we were knee deep in philosophy and reading a lot on existential nihilism,” the duo explains. “The world went dark so it was easy for us to match this with a few songs. That core melancholy goes all the way back to what brought us together in 2003. It’s in our DNA at the end of the day.”
Having got the existential dread out of their system, there was more room for the life-affirming cinematic exploration that is front and centre on the 2022 EP ‘Retrovision’, a record based on cinematic scenes. Another widescreen opus, ‘Arrival’, found its way onto classical powerhouse Deutsche Grammophon.
The duo’s visually charged sound has secured high-profile syncs, including their reinterpretations of The Irrepressibles’ ‘The Most Beautiful Boy’, used as the lead track in ‘Young Royals’ (Season 2) and M83’s ‘Solitude, which scored the Season 3 trailer for the BAFTA-winning crime series ‘Top Boy’, as well as Amazon’s current thriller ‘The Better Sister.’
Felsmann + Tiley’s passion for putting their own stamp on vocally driven tracks is evident on the standout moments of their upcoming concept album ‘Protomensch’ where the darkest shades of shimmering synthwave, pounding trance, and introspective IDM are illuminated with alt-pop vocals by featured guests – London-based alternative outfit Pet Deaths and Australian solo artists The Kite String Tangle, Woodes, and Laius.
This juxtaposition between sentient beings and machines permeates the whole album, from the Felsmann + Tileymanifesto which introduces us to the highly intelligent yet irrevocably shortsighted and downright tragic character of Protomensch to the cover artwork, music videos, stark social media aesthetics and seated, next-level live-shows involving collaboration with dozens of visual artists.
More to the point, the release of ‘Protomensch’ marks the moment their full artistic vision – as they envisaged back in 2017 – will be brought to fruition for the first time. However, at the same time it also marks a moment of realisation for Felsmann and Tiley.
