About This Project

About Felsmann + Tiley

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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 + Tiley manifesto 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. 

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

Lucius Annaeus Seneca  (ca. 4 BC – 65 AD)