Berlin-based producer Einmusik discusses new album The Long Way Home, rediscovering his creative instincts, embracing musical freedom and finding his way back to the sound that defines him.
Nine years after his last studio album, Einmusik returns with The Long Way Home, a very personal record that reconnects the Berlin-based producer with the sounds, emotions and instincts that first inspired him to make music. Released on his own Einmusika Recordings imprint, the twelve-track album moves between melodic house, progressive electronica, ambient textures, trance and nostalgic synth pop, bringing together the many sides of an artist whose career has spanned more than two decades.
Grab it on Beatport HERE.
Yet despite its musical diversity, The Long Way Home wasn’t conceived as a grand artistic statement. Instead, it emerged gradually from years of accumulated ideas, unfinished productions and a renewed determination to trust his instincts. “To me it means coming back to the core of who I am as an artist,” Einmusik explains. “I’ve noticed that the deepest connection with my audience happens when I stop overthinking and just make music out of pure joy.”
That rediscovery has coincided with an unexpected resurgence of interest in his earlier work. “Something funny was happening: tracks I made 20 years ago are being played again by a new generation of DJs and a lot of what was big in my youth is cool again. It feels like life is taking me back to the start, just with all the experience I’ve gathered on the way. I never planned that and I’m really grateful to be living it.”
His previous album, Serenade, arrived in 2017. The nine-year gap wasn’t necessarily intentional, but the passage of time has given The Long Way Home a significance that extends beyond another collection of productions. “Some of these tracks sat on my drive for years and over the past year I found my way back to myself and my sound,” he reveals. “It feels new because I stopped thinking about what is expected and just followed what excites me.”
The album’s origins were similarly unforced. Rather than beginning with a concept or a predetermined musical direction, Einmusik found himself recognising connections between tracks that had developed independently. “None of it was planned. Genres never mattered much to me, I simply follow good music wherever it is and at home I listen to everything, especially classics from the 70s and 80s.”
The defining moment arrived during the summer. “For a long time, I didn’t even know there would be an album. In midsummer I listened to all my finished tracks and sketches in one go and suddenly they made sense together, like different chapters of the same story. That’s when it clicked.”
The resulting record embraces a broad sonic palette without abandoning the melodic identity that has become synonymous with Einmusik. Crucially, its diversity reflects an artist no longer concerned with satisfying expectations. “Over the years I learned that whenever I tried to fit expectations, the result felt less like me and people feel that too. This album is the opposite of chasing anything. It’s me returning to what I love, and I think that’s exactly what the title stands for.”
Once the tracks had revealed themselves as part of a larger story, sequencing became an important part of the creative process “Once I had all the tracks in one folder, I listened to them again and again in different orders until it felt like a journey with a beginning and an end.”
He tested the running order in different environments, allowing each listening experience to reveal something new. “I did that everywhere: in the car on road trips, at home while cooking and on my headphones while travelling. Each situation tells you something different about the flow. I really hope people take the time to listen from start to finish, because the tracks talk to each other.”
The album also features collaborations with Huminal, Apropos, RA:PHA and Siim Griffel, each bringing a distinct musical personality to the project. For Einmusik, however, the human connection matters more than an artist’s reputation. “Most of the people on this album are artists I’ve been working with for years. These days I’m quite selective, both in music and in life and the vibe between people matters more to me than names.”
On Quake, Huminal supplied the initial foundation. “He started with this fat bassline and I brought in my signature drums, stabs and pads, which took the track somewhere neither of us would have gone alone.”
The circumstances surrounding Losing My Mind were rather less conventional. “RA:PHA sent me some sketches, and when I asked for stems it turned out he had lost the project. Luckily he had saved a few files, so I took those and built what was missing.”
Meanwhile, Still Holds On emerged from his continuing relationship with Siim Griffel, following their earlier collaboration Remember Me. “The stabs in the hook line caught me instantly, so I had to finish the song in my own way.”
Apropos returns for Miss You, following their previous single Anything for You. Working remotely, the pair exchanged ideas until the track developed its own character, with an unexpected connection to Einmusik’s earlier production We Talk About Dreams. “Apropos came up with this great idea with gated trance stabs and vocals. We worked from our own studios and sent ideas back and forth, and somehow it ended up carrying some vibes of my track We Talk About Dreams, which felt like a nice little circle closing.”
That sense of discovery remains fundamental to his collaborative approach. “What I look for in a collaborator is that the energy feels right and that they bring something I wouldn’t do myself. If a file comes back and surprises me, I know we’re onto something.”
Among the solo productions, the title track proved pivotal in establishing the album’s identity. “The title track The Long Way Home was the turning point. It was the first single, and when I finished it, I knew I had to make an album that sounds completely like me again.”
Other tracks reveal less familiar aspects of his musical personality, particularly Sternenstaub, Vampires and Möwenflug. The creative process behind them remains instinctive, with sounds and emotions taking precedence over considerations of where the finished music might eventually be played. “It always starts personal. I sit in the studio and follow a sound or a feeling, and only when a song is finished do I think about where it could live, on the dancefloor or on headphones.”
Interestingly, this renewed creative freedom hasn’t required a technological overhaul. Einmusik has retained essentially the same studio configuration since the pandemic. “For me that’s actually the point: when the setup feels like home, I don’t have to think about tools anymore and can fully focus on the music and on where a song wants to go.”
His confidence in prioritising emotion over functionality has also been reinforced by the extraordinary response to his music around the world. “Those moments showed me that people connect most with music that has real emotion in it, not with what’s seasonal.”
He points to We Talk About Dreams as a particularly powerful example. “No matter where I play it, São Paulo, Oslo or at ADE, people go wild and sing the hook line melody.”
The continuing reaction to his celebrated Cercle performance at Norway’s Preikestolen, which he says has attracted around 18 million views, has been equally important. “That and reading the comments under the Cercle set at Preikestolen, which has been watched around 18 million times, still gives me goosebumps. It gave me the confidence to make an album that is emotional first and functional second.”
Releasing the record through Einmusika Recordings reinforces that independence. Founded in 2008/2009, the label has become both a creative outlet and a platform for artists whose music resonates with him. “Running it taught me a lot about patience and about trusting my own ears. Listening to so many demos and working with artists I believe in keeps me curious and sharp as a producer.”
For this album, he maintained control over every stage, including mastering. “Releasing such a personal album on my own imprint feels right, because nobody had to approve it except me. I even did the mastering myself, so everything was done completely in-house. It’s 100% my vision.”
That autonomy is increasingly valuable in an industry where artists face constant pressure to maintain visibility. “As an artist you have to be everything at once: DJ, producer, social media agent, curator, radio show host, club resident, label manager and so on. And if you don’t release music very regularly, you become invisible.”
Despite those pressures, Einmusik believes longevity ultimately depends on individuality. “In the long run, the artists who last are the ones who stay recognisable and honest, because trends come and go, but a real signature stays.”
Perhaps the clearest expression of that philosophy arrives with the album’s closing track, Retour. Drawing on the melancholic synth pop and cinematic atmosphere of the 1980s, it returns Einmusik to the sounds that shaped his earliest musical experiences. “I wanted it to feel like a round trip. The title track sets off and Retour brings you back to where it all began for me.”
He describes its nostalgic atmosphere as “Elegant, a bit dramatic, carefree and full of optimism about the future. When I hear that sound, I’m home. So, after the last track, I hope people feel they’ve arrived somewhere familiar, even if the road there had a few detours.”
With an extensive album tour beginning and new productions already taking shape, The Long Way Home represents neither a conclusion nor a retrospective. Instead, it marks a renewed commitment to the instincts that have sustained his career. “I’ve learned that the moment I stop following my gut, the music loses something and the same is true in life. Over the years I’ve also learned to protect my energy and to keep the right people close.”
And while the album may bring him full circle, Einmusik has no intention of standing still. “This record feels like a fresh start rather than a full stop. A long album tour is starting now and I’m already back in the studio mastering new music and sketching ideas, just to stay in shape. The road continues.”
Einmusik – The Long Way Home is out now on Einmusika Recordings.