DEEP IMAGINATION was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 2005 by Thorsten Sudler-Mainz as a side project of ART OF INFINITY. Over the years, his solo project, in which he realized his own ideas and variations of ambient electronica, art rock, and most recently gothic rock, became his main project.

Initially, he developed a concept for presenting instrumental ambient music live. In contrast to the sometimes bombastic productions of ART OF INFINITY, DEEP IMAGINATION was intended to unfold musical magic in a more minimalist and purely electronic way. This resulted in the album “Scapes,” which was released on CD by Syngate Records in 2005. Three years later, the renowned Munich-based record company BSC Music signed DEEP IMAGINATION alongside ART OF INFINITY and added it to its music publishing portfolio.

In the following years, Thorsten Sudler-Mainz played various ambient concerts in Germany together with his ART OF INFINITY partner Thorsten Rentsch and soloist Stefan Höllering, such as at the “Satzvey Castle Festival 2005” and at the Bochum Planetarium (2008). The albums “Gemstones” (2008) and the electronica album ‘Awareness’ (2010), which was frequently featured in Lufthansa's in-flight entertainment program, were released. The acclaimed concert at the “Electronic Circus Festival 2010” in Bielefeld marked the end of the first chapter of DEEP IMAGINATION.

After ART OF INFINITY was put on hold for a long time starting in 2012, DEEP IMAGINATION began a musical reimagining with the addition of elements such as vocals, electric guitar, and percussion. Live concerts were replaced by lovingly produced video clips. This was followed by collaborations with guests such as guitarist Günter Kaufmann, percussionist Byron Metcalf, and partner and singer Ann Kareen Mainz. The atmospheric art rock-inspired albums “Carefully Kept Secrets” (2017) and “My Silent Celebration” (2020) were released.

Eclipsed Rock Magazine wrote in 2020: “Thorsten Sudler-Mainz's project has evolved from purely instrumental ambient to a full-fledged replacement for Art Of Infinity, which had been dormant for many years, always oscillating between art rock and electronica.” In addition to collaborating with guest singer Hardy Hartman on the single “In My Memory,” another milestone was the track “Coming From the Cold.” This was the first time that old friend and guest guitarist Achim von Raesfeld, with whom Thorsten Sudler-Mainz had founded a gothic band in his early days in the 80s, was featured.

An old flame was rekindled, with Thorsten Sudler-Mainz taking over lead vocals. With the darkly romantic gothic ambient album “The Children of the Moon” (2023), the multi-instrumentalist indulged his rediscovered love of darkwave and ethereal goth, reinventing DEEP IMAGINATION once again. 

Orkus music magazine wrote about the video singles “Realm of the Raven” (2024) and “Forever and a Day” (2025) as “irresistible darkwave” from DEEP IMAGINATION. Together with Achim von Raesfeld, seven highly acclaimed video clips were created by 2025.

Thorsten Sudler-Mainz has continued to develop DEEP IMAGINATION over two decades, always remaining true to his electronic-atmospheric approach.

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), Arvid Mainz (trombone)