Star of the Year: Helena Hauff

Helena Hauff's debut album 'Discreet Desires' is so downright dark that you'd be forgiven for thinking that she might reflect those characteristics in person. But minutes into a conversation with the 27-year-old, it's clear that's not the case. "I'm just a really happy person," she says through bouts of laughter. "It would be funny if everyone was expecting me to be intense, because I'm not at all."

In fairness, the Hamburg native has nothing to be brooding over in 2015 after 'Discreet Desires' received widespread critical acclaim.

"This time last year I was waiting for the LP to come out," she explains. "I was having all those thoughts like 'Am I happy about it?' and 'Will people like it?'" Judging by the reaction, there was no need for apprehension.

The album, which came out on Actress' Werkdiscs label in September, was recorded using entirely analogue hardware and pulls off the tick of mining its influences (stern-faced 80s electro, Detroit techno, Chicago house) without ever failing retrograde.

And while the former resident of Hamburg's famed Golden Pudel club has been building an international DJ career since 2013, it's been in 2015 that she's become a star attraction. From Dance Tunnel to Dekmantel and Rural Festival in Japan, her though DJ workouts have left crowds dumbfounded.

"Dekmantel was special," she says. "There were all these palm trees on stage - and, let's be honest, my music doesn't sound like palm trees and sunshine, but it really worked."

She's now tentatively started work on what might become album number two. "I'm making really primitive stuff," she says. "I don't think too much about the evolution of my sound. I leave that to you and just do what the fuck I like."

Why change a winning formula?

Top Helena Hauff moments of 2015

Helena Hauff 'Lex Tertia'

A six track EP of acid and techno workouts, out in April on cassette, was a taste of what was to come on her debut album.

Helena Hauff 'Discreet Desires'

Austere yet seductive, familiar yet foreign, and one of 2015's most boldly brilliant LPs

Dekmantel

Helena's sensory assault on the Dutch festival was ferocious, fast and a stark juxtaposition to the beach surroundings.