Hainbach (born Stefan Paul Goetsch) is a German composer and technician with a knack for creating truly trippy, shifting audio landscapes. Tracks are built up using experimental instruments, tape loops, electronic gadgets (including nuclear testing equipment), and at times mixed with the sounds of nature. This auditory hodgepodge serves hipnotic, meditative experiences you can get lost in. As with all well-crafted looping, you will discover something new with each listen.
Take for example the soundtrack for the 2025 film ‘Amrum’. Base tracks were recorded on a beach using an aeolian wind harp and an East German fan organ. The blowing wind and ocean waves played essential rolls in the compositions as did the singing of nearby birds. These recordings were then brought back to the studio and combined with sparse piano and Hainbach says, “a few pulses of my wall of nuclear test equipment add suspense.” As the tracks build, you can definitely feel that suspense.
“All in all, this album leaves you space to listen and transport yourself to Amrum, both the island and the film.”
– Bandcamp
I’ve been a fan of serious looped music for many years. The kind that David Torn or Robert Fripp would make. Utilizing far more than the instruments at hand. Picking up sounds from the room or randomly adding the odd bit of clicks and clanks here and there. Hainbach has co-opted many of their techniques while taking the music itself into his own realm. Innately original and thoroughly satisfying.
On his latest release ‘Gentle Hum’, Hainbach is joined by Turkish electronic artist Ah! Kosmos. This is a more controlled effort in the sense that the artists are creating haunting musical pieces using mainly non-musical instruments. Percussive noise and humming textures are crafted into a full, rich sound. The tracks live and breathe naturally despite their artificial origins.
“Their patient and careful excavation of textures and tones treats noise and hum not as incidental artefacts, but as integral, living elements of the sonic realm. The intricate interplay of the rhythms and sounds of test equipment, analogue synthesizers, occasional piano accompaniment, and even processed vocals provide the soundtrack to a journey through in-between states and suspended time.”
– Bandcamp
I’m a sucker for process. That’s why I watch so many documentaries on a variety of topics. I don’t always grasp the concepts, but I can appreciate the work. On YouTube and Instagram, Hainbach posts videos showing how he makes his soundscapes. They are fascinating and he has a very professorial delivery that draws you in as he demonstrates his process of weaving tapes, wiring gadgets and manipulating sounds.
The soundtrack for ‘Amrum’ was nominated for a 2026 German Film Award for Best Score and ‘Gentle Hum’ is currently in prerelease (the full release is scheduled for April 24, 2026). Both are available on Bandcamp, as is the rest of Hainbach’s extensive catalog.
Cheers!
Stephen
Website → hainbachmusik.com
Instagram → instagram.com/hainbach101
YouTube → youtube.com/@Hainbach
Bandcamp → hainbach.bandcamp.com
