Sunroof (Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones) – Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1 (vinyl album)

“Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1” marks the first full-length release from Sunroof, the long-standing collaborative project of Daniel Miller (founder of Mute Records) and Gareth Jones (producer for Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Erasure, and others). The album takes shape as a series of modular synth improvisations, recorded live in the studio using the duo’s Eurorack systems and shaped by the spirit of electronic pioneers such as Chris Carter and Martin Gore, whose own experimental releases helped inspire the project.

Across its improvised pieces, the album embraces an electronic language free from genre boundaries. Pulses, tones, and shifting textures collide in ways that feel both familiar and newly uncovered — a quality noted by The Quietus, who praised the record as “electronic music unencumbered by genre rules… completely familiar and pleasingly fresh.” Mojo highlighted its lineage to the cosmic minimalism of Terry Riley and Cluster, placing Sunroof within a continuum of exploratory synthesizer work.

“Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1” laid the foundation for the duo’s subsequent releases, establishing the parameters that define Sunroof: spontaneity, precision, modular unpredictability, and an ongoing fascination with sound as a living, reactive material.