Biography
DEEP IMAGINATION
Bio
Deep Imagination from Germany is the solo project of Thorsten Sudler-Mainz (*05.04.1963 in Frankfurt am Main), whose productions have been released by the renowned Munich record company BSC Music on the Prudence label since 2004.
Thorsten Sudler-Mainz started out in 1982 as a drummer, later as a guitarist and singer in regional gothic bands in the Frankfurt am Main region, before recording his first complete productions himself in his own 8-track recording studio in the 1990s.
In the noughties, he made a name for himself with elaborately produced art rock ambient productions and as co-founder of the Cologne project “Art Of Infinity”, founded in 1996. He launched his solo project in 2005 and has released six albums and various singles and EPs with Deep Imagination to date.
From the instrumental ambient of the first album Scapes (2005) to the art rock-influenced “My Silent Celebration” (2020), he repeatedly changed the instrumentation and style of Deep Imagination, but always remained true to his electronic approach.
With the current album “The Children of the Moon” (2023), he presented an atmospheric darkwave-gothic album and thus perhaps his most authentic work, which he followed up with the single “Realm of the Raven” in 2024.
Thorsten Sudler-Mainz presents the music of Deep Imagination with lovingly produced video clips in which he appears together with his guest musicians.
The DEEP IMAGINATION Story
"From Ambient to New Dark Wave"
Once founded in 2005 by Thorsten Sudler-Mainz as a side project of ART OF INFINITY, he uses DEEP IMAGINATION to live out and further develop his own ideas and varieties of ambient electronica, art rock and gothic rock.
In order to be able to accept an offer to play live at a festival, he initially developed a project to present instrumental ambient live.
In contrast to the sometimes bombastic productions of ART OF INFINITY, DEEP IMAGINATION is intended to unfold a musical magic in a more minimalist and electronic way. The album “Scapes” was released on CD by Syngate Records on April 16, 2005. Three years later, BSC Music added DEEP IMAGINATION to the Prudence family alongside ART OF INFINITY and released the music via the digital distributor Zebralution.
From 2005 to 2010, Thorsten Sudler-Mainz plays a total of eight ambient concerts together with his ART OF INFINITY partner Thorsten Rentsch and Stefan Höllering on saxophone, such as at the “Satzvey Castle Festival 2005” and at the Planetarium Bochum (2008). The instrumental albums “Gemstones” (2008) and “Awareness” (2010) are released, which is presented live at the “Electronic Circus Festival 2010”.
After ART OF INFINITY was put on ice for a long time in 2012, DEEP IMAGINATION began a new musical concept with the addition of elements such as vocals, electric guitar and percussion. Live concerts are replaced by music video productions that are published on YouTube. This is followed by collaborations with guests such as guitarist Günter Kaufmann, US percussionist Byron Metcalf and singer Ann Kareen Mainz, who has been responsible for the female vocals ever since. The albums “Carefully Kept Secrets” (2017) and “My Silent Celebration” (2020), which feature art rock elements, are released.
In 2020, Eclipsed Rock Magazine wrote: “Thorsten Sudler-Mainz's project has evolved from purely instrumental ambient to a fully-fledged replacement for Art Of Infinity, which has been dormant for many years and has always oscillated between art rock and electronics”.
In addition to the collaboration with guest vocalist Hardy Hartman on the single “In My Memory”, another milestone is the track “Coming From the Cold” from the 2020 album. Guest guitarist Achim von Raesfeld, with whom Thorsten Sudler-Mainz founded a band back in his early days in the 80s, is featured here for the first time.
An old fire is rekindled, Thorsten Sudler-Mainz takes over the lead vocals and plays electric guitar again. With the darkly romantic gothic-ambient album “The Children of the Moon” (2023), the DEEP IMAGINATION maker lives out his rediscovered love of gothic rock and darkwave, reinventing DEEP IMAGINATION once again.
DEEP IMAGINATION celebrated its 20th anniversary on 16.04.2025.
DEEP IMAGINATION guest musicians since 2005
Achim von Raesfeld (electric guitar), Ann Kareen Mainz (vocals), Torsten "Hardy" Hartmann (vocals), Leon Mainz (vocals), Oda Hensel-Reiter (vocals), Tanja Bamberg (vocals), Matthias Krauss (keyboards), Byron Metcalf (percussion), Günter Kaufmann (electric and acoustic guitars), Thorsten Rentsch (guitar-scapes, keyboards, percussion), Stefan Höllering (saxophone)