why we love this

Every element here feels intentional, as if Loradeniz were directing a theatrical drama. Somber lows play out in submerged voices and string quartet-like synths, while orchestral movements rise into cathartic highs. Melancholy subsides, giving way to healing.

about the record

SUN SHONE is the debut full-length album by Loradeniz, the multidisciplinary music and art project of Istanbul-born, Amsterdam-based Deniz Omeroglu. Across eight tracks of ambient electronic music, she paints with a palette of synthesizers, effects, percussion, and ethereal voice.

The album was conceived in two parts. The first tracks came spontaneously in the aftermath of heartbreak, with Omeroglu trusting the creative flow and using it as a method of self-healing. What was initially intended as an EP grew into a full-length release, shaped during a month spent composing a B-side to complement the early material.

Omeroglu wrote, performed, and produced the entire record herself. Many of the compositions center around interplaying synth arpeggios and oscillators, tuned for an equal degree of menace and sweetness that balances on a knife-edge. This emotional ambiguity carries through the lyrics, with recurring themes of love lost and memories revisited.

From the spoken word of opener “Saint Odds” and “Swimmer” to the layered choral swells of “No Moon” and the melodic hooks of “Brick House,” Omeroglu’s voice is central to SUN SHONE. At times it feels simultaneously fragile and powerful—perhaps nowhere more so than in the yearning swells of “Cloud Sofa,” a healing lullaby for lost love that offers up one of the most delicate moments on the album.

While this may loosely be referred to as an ambient album, Omeroglu’s background as a DJ and sound designer is present throughout. Echoes of Artificial Intelligence-era IDM ripple through the dancing arpeggios and rhythmic pulses of “Sea Serpent” and “Waterbear,” while the album closer “Aftersun” could easily serve as the euphoric final track of a sunrise club set.

With her debut album, Loradeniz weaves together an impressive breadth of styles and sounds, all held seamlessly together by a cathartic desire to bring out all the melancholia from within. The album opens with the words, “The search of love continues in the face of great odds”—a fitting mantra for a record that manages to combine melancholy with intense rushes of positivity and hopes for the future.