WHOLE release third album ‘THING’ on Blackjack Illuminist Records
Berlin duo WHOLE released their third album “THING” on 9 October 2026 through Blackjack Illuminist Records, on CD, limited cassette and digital.
Berlin synthpop duo WHOLE released their third album, “THING”, on 9 October 2026 through Blackjack Illuminist Records. The nine tracks add industrial, darkwave, post-punk and EBM elements to the duo’s synthpop base. Bandcamp’s own release date for the album is 16 October 2026, a week later than the label’s announcement.
WHOLE are Alexander Leonard Donat, who also records as Vlimmer and with Fir Cone Children, and Thomas Schernikau.
How WHOLE wrote ‘THING’
Songwriting for the album fell into a stretch of touring and studio work. In a conversation about new songs, Schernikau suggested working “quick and dirty”. That approach broke with the duo’s habit of giving each song a long time to develop.
Both members wrote, performed and produced the record. Schernikau mixed and mastered it, and Donat made the artwork.
The lyrics centre on one theme, which the label’s press release states as two questions: “what actually makes a human being human? When does a person become a function, a profile, a pattern, a thing?”
The album opens with “Air Vent” and closes with “The Reckoning”, which runs close to seven minutes:
- Air Vent
- Cage
- A Thing
- Smithereens
- [Nothing]
- Flesh Worn
- God Has A Break
- Havoc To Wreak
- The Reckoning
The CD comes in a cardboard gatefold sleeve with a 12-page booklet of artwork, photos and lyrics. A CD edition signed by both members is limited to 15 copies. The cassette edition is limited to 30 copies on transparent red shells, each with a unique drawing and the lyrics. “THING” is available on CD, cassette and as a digital album on Bandcamp.
About WHOLE
WHOLE is a Berlin duo of Alexander Leonard Donat and Thomas Schernikau, and Donat’s label Blackjack Illuminist Records has released all of its records. Outside the band, Schernikau plays in the Depeche Mode tribute act Forced To Mode and records with Christian Schottstädt as Forced Movement, whose album “Lost” came out on Last Recordings in 2023.
The duo released its debut album, “BIAS”, on 19 October 2018 on CD and cassette. Its nine tracks include “Berghain”, “Tongue To Machine” and “Amsterdam”. The CD “Tongue To Machine” followed on 4 December 2020, with remixes by Mandelbrot, Kid Atari, Kipul and Neocoma plus reworked versions of “Get Away”, “Bombs Will Drop” and “Amsterdam”.
Second album “HYDRA” arrived on 21 June 2024 on CD, cassette and digital, with ten tracks including “Ten Commandments”, “Dead Deer” and “I Am Your Shadow”. Schernikau mixed and mastered it. The “Ten Commandments” remix EP followed on CD on 6 December 2024, with versions by Rob Dust, Beyond Obsession, Mandelbrot, Kid Atari, Baskfield and Edri.
On 4 October 2025, WHOLE sold a 15-copy CDr titled “4 Oct 25 11°C” only at the merch stand after a concert. The title combines that date with the outdoor temperature after the show. Its three tracks, “Air Vent (Way In)”, a cover of Depeche Mode’s “New Life” and “I Am Your Shadow (Alternate)”, reached general release as the “Air Vent EP” on 20 February 2026. “New Life” also appears on the 80s Records compilation “In Your Memory 2 (A Tribute To Depeche Mode)”. The EP’s lead track shares a title with “Air Vent”, the opener of “THING”.
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