Effective period / Period of releases: 2021 - 2024

Formen (german for "forms" or "to form") is a musician and sound designer based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. His music is located between ambient, dub-techno and clicks’n’cuts. He is considered a reclusive sound artist who rarely gives interviews and avoids social networks.

However, it is known that his style is characterized by unorthodox and experimental production techniques. He is renowned for producing exclusively with hardware, mixing and performing his tracks live at the mixing console. Most of his compositions are therefore live performances, designed as one-take recordings without overdubs – he is considered a proponent of analog dub mixing. Recurring elements of his music are creative usage of glitch sounds, interacting effect chains and semi-randomized compositional techniques.

His interest in vintage production techniques has led him to delve into vinyl cutting and analog mastering. It is believed that he anonymously distributes different versions of his tracks as one-offs in local record stores. He also manufactures small batches of vinyl-based lathe cuts (“duplates”) upon request.

Formen works closely with the artistic platform Empty Space, for whom he regularly does masterings, lathe-cuts and graphic work. Since early 2023, he has been working with Harald Schall on a live concept called Schall/Formen. It can be assumed that Formen has various pseudonyms, in the context of which he explores different production techniques.