Berlin synthpop duo WHOLE have released THING, their third album, through Blackjack Illuminist Records on 9 October 2026, with CD, limited cassette and digital editions; Bandcamp lists the digital drop for 16 October.
The nine tracks keep the duo’s atmospheric synthpop base while leaning into industrial, darkwave, post-punk and EBM. Opener Air Vent hits hard; closer The Reckoning stretches past six minutes. In between sit Cage, A Thing, Smithereens, [Nothing], Flesh Worn, God Has A Break and Havoc To Wreak.
WHOLE are Alexander Leonard Donat (also Vlimmer and Fir Cone Children) and Thomas Schernikau (Forced To Mode, Forced Movement). Both wrote, performed and produced the record; Schernikau mixed and mastered it, and Donat made the artwork. Songwriting came in a stretch of touring and studio work, after Schernikau floated working “quick and dirty” instead of their usual long development.
The album’s theme, as the label frames it, asks what makes a human being human, and when a person becomes a function, a profile, a pattern, a thing. Earlier WHOLE records are BIAS (2018) and HYDRA (2024); the Air Vent EP from February 2026 previewed the opener, and its official video is up on the Blackjack Illuminist Records YouTube channel.
Physical copies include a CD gatefold with a 12-page booklet, a 15-copy signed CD, and a 30-copy transparent-red cassette edition with unique drawings. Listen and buy via Bandcamp.
THING on Bandcamp – https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/album/thing
Official video – Air Vent (Way In) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr8cL-0qP_Q
Side-Line – https://www.side-line.com/whole-thing-album/
GEWC – https://www.gewc.de/en/whole-thing/
