Paranoia is the third album for German producer Oliver Huntemann. You may not recognise his name, but you’ll certainly recognise the industry figures he’s worked with – including Dubfire and Stephan Bodzin. Not only has Huntemann released a long line of his own singles, he has also remixed songs by the likes of the Chemical Brothers, Underworld and Depeche Mode. An impressive CV indeed!

The opening of Paranoia, the atmospheric yet brief track Only The Paranoid Survive, really feels more like an introduction to the subsequent, wonderfully named Rotten. It’s title is so apt because the Londoner who provides a voice over to the track sounds like he spends his spare time banging peoples’ heads together and collecting debts for shady characters. Not only is the voice so wonderfully nasty, the words he’s saying are absolute garbage – he sounds like a mentally ill patient standing on the corner of a street lecturing passers-by. Yet somehow, this strange voice and mad lyrics fit the music perfectly and I have to admit that this track is one of my personal favourites. In fact, I’ve listened to it another four times while writing this paragraph!

The album’s title, too, is apt because the album itself is dominated by a rather schizophrenic nature. There are tunes that show promise and then fall apart completely such as Delerium, but then just when you’re wondering where Oliver has gone wrong he slams in the amazing In Times of Trouble and you’re left reeling. If you’re reeling, then you may as well go on a ride and there’s no better track for that than Dark Passenger. This dark, twisted piece of techno brilliance is one of the real stand-outs on the album – it starts off like the sinister soundtrack for a film villain’s entrance, but it builds well beyond that, into a genuinely well-constructed and thought-out piece of electronic music.

While there is definite separation between the songs on the album, there is continuity to the music that almost gives it a sense of being mixed – or sums of a greater whole – and that is definitely one of the strengths of this album. This continuity is also reflected in the names of the tracks themselves. From Rotten to Hope, each name could be attributed to a stage of mental illness.

The other great strength of Huntemann’s work is that he is a damn fine writer of electronic music songs. Some producers seem to create songs by sticking to formulas, and the songs sound all the more hollow for it. Oliver’s work, however, has a depth and feeling to it that connects the listener to something more than the sum of all the bleeps and bangs.

My only gripe – and it’s not really a gripe – is that the album is over all too quickly. The whole thing from start to finish is little more than thirty minutes, but on the positive side it does leave you with a sense of wanting more. Enjoyment coupled with the desire for more? If that’s not the point of music, then I don’t know what is!

Whether you’re a fan of techno, tech house, minimal, tech progressive or whatever, you should be a fan of good music – and this is good music. Grab yourself a copy today.

Paranoia is out now on Ideal Audio.