Armin van Buuren
Amelie Lens is a Belgian DJ, music producer and founder of the techno labels LENSKE and EXHALE Records. She was born on May 31, 1990, in Vilvoorde, near Brussels. Before beginning her international music career, Lens performed under the alias Renée and was a resident DJ at Labyrinth Club in Hasselt. Her first original releases appeared in 2016.
Date of birth: May 31, 1990
Place of birth: Vilvoorde, Belgium
Country: Belgium
Profession: DJ, music producer
Early alias: Renée
Genres: techno, peak-time techno, acid techno; elements of trance and tribal techno
Labels and projects: LENSKE, EXHALE Records, EXHALE
Active period: since the late 2000s; official releases since 2016
Early years
Amelie Lens grew up in Flanders. Her mother died when she was five years old, after which Amelie was raised largely by her grandmother. As a teenager, she studied in Antwerp and was interested in a wide range of music, from alternative rock and industrial to electronic music. Lens has cited Nine Inch Nails, Underworld, Boys Noize and Ellen Allien among the artists who shaped her musical outlook.
A defining event was her visit to the Belgian Dour Festival, which she first attended at around the age of fifteen. After the festival, Lens began studying the history of electronic music, collecting records and arranging tracks into sequences that resembled her future DJ programmes. Her interest in club culture developed through regular visits to parties and festivals across Belgium.
Work in the modelling industry
Amelie was noticed by a modelling agency representative at Dour Festival. During the following years, she worked in the fashion industry, lived in London, Paris and Milan, and took part in runway shows and advertising campaigns. Modelling gave her the opportunity to travel, but music gradually occupied an increasingly important place in her life.
At the same time, Lens was learning to DJ. Her future husband Sam Deliaert, who later became known as Farrago, was already involved in electronic music and owned the necessary equipment. Using his turntables and studio gear, Amelie learned mixing techniques and how to work with musical material.
By the mid-2010s, she had ended her modelling career and focused on music. Sources give different dates for her final departure from the fashion industry, ranging from 2014 to 2016, so the transition is more accurately understood as a gradual process that coincided with her residency at Labyrinth Club and the beginning of her studio work.
The Renée alias and first performances
Lens’s first DJ performances took place under the name Renée, chosen in memory of her mother. Under this alias, she played at small Belgian parties and worked with minimalist techno, tech house and other club styles before developing a harder sound.
By 2013, Lens had secured a residency at Labyrinth Club in Hasselt. Regular performances allowed her to work with extended sets, test music on the dance floor and develop her mixing technique. During this period, she began performing under her own name.
Labyrinth became an important venue not only for her DJ career. It was there that the concept of EXHALE later developed, initially as a series of club nights featuring invited artists and eventually as an independent international brand.
The debut release Exhale
In 2016, Amelie Lens released her debut record Exhale on the Italian label Lyase Recordings. It marked the beginning of her official production discography. The material was built around a direct techno rhythm, restrained arrangements and the gradual development of recurring sonic elements.
The name Exhale later became central to Lens’s wider activity: it was adopted by her event series, radio show and second label. In 2016, however, it was primarily the title of her first studio release.
Collaboration with Second State
Following her debut, Amelie began working with Second State, the label founded by German duo Pan-Pot. Between 2016 and 2017, it released the EPs Let It Go, Contradiction and Stay With Me. These records established Lens’s early production style and introduced her to an audience beyond the Belgian club scene.
The compositions from this period combined minimalist rhythmic structures, a heavy low-frequency foundation, acid elements and short vocal fragments. Follow, included on Stay With Me, became one of the most recognisable tracks in her early discography, although it was originally part of an EP rather than a separate stage in her career.
In addition to Second State, Lens released music on Involve Records, Elevate, ARTS and other specialist techno labels. Her collaborative release with Farrago, Weight of the Land, appeared in 2017, and in 2018 she released material with Spanish producer Regal.
International breakthrough
During the second half of the 2010s, Lens’s touring schedule expanded beyond Belgium. She began performing at major clubs and festivals, including Awakenings, Time Warp, Movement Detroit, Sónar, EXIT, Kappa FuturFestival and Sonus. Performances at London’s fabric and in Ibiza also became important parts of her career.
Her live reputation was built on energetic techno sets designed to develop over an extended period. Rather than relying on abrupt changes of genre, Lens structured her programmes through a gradual increase in density, detailed percussion work and the progressive introduction of acid and melodic elements.
She also became known for extended all-night-long performances. These sets allowed her to begin with deeper, more minimalist material and gradually move towards peak-time techno. In 2019, Amelie presented a dedicated all-night-long EXHALE event at fabric.
Founding LENSKE
In 2018, Amelie Lens founded her own label, LENSKE. Its first release was Farrago’s Risin’ EP, followed by recordings from Milo Spykers, AIROD, Ahl Iver and Lens herself.
The label was created as a platform for artists whose music reflected Lens’s vision of contemporary club techno. The early LENSKE catalogue was dominated by dense, functional tracks designed for large clubs and festival stages, although some releases incorporated trance, acid and industrial elements.
Lens’s first solo release on her own label was the Basiel EP, issued in 2018. It was followed by Little Robot in 2019 and Higher and the compilation The Future in 2020, bringing together artists associated with LENSKE.
The title Basiel refers to one of Amelie’s cats. Personal references also appear in some of her other works, although most of her discography is primarily designed around the function of a track within a DJ set.
EXHALE: from club series to international project
The EXHALE party series originated during Lens’s residency at Labyrinth Club. She curated the line-ups herself and invited artists including Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock, Ellen Allien, Rødhåd and Kobosil.
EXHALE later expanded beyond Belgium. Events and dedicated festival stages under the brand took place at fabric in London, Shelter in Amsterdam, and in New York, Paris, Beirut and Istanbul, as well as during Awakenings ADE, Creamfields and Extrema Outdoor.
EXHALE differs from a conventional touring brand because Lens is directly involved in artist selection and the overall musical concept of each programme. Its line-ups combine established techno performers, mid-level artists and emerging producers connected with contemporary hard, acid and peak-time techno.
EXHALE Records
In December 2020, the brand expanded with the launch of EXHALE Records. Its first release was the compilation EXHALE VA001, featuring tracks by Amelie Lens, AIROD, KlangKuenstler, SHDW & Obscure Shape, DYEN, Antigone, François X and other producers. Lens’s own contribution to the compilation was titled Adrenaline.
LENSKE and EXHALE Records serve different purposes. LENSKE was developed as a compact artist-led label with a consistent circle of musicians, whereas EXHALE Records is connected with a broader ecosystem of events, compilations and international contributors.
Through EXHALE, Lens released her own singles Feel It, Radiance, You and Me, Breathe, Falling Into Acid Dreams and other works.
EXHALE radio show
Amelie Lens also presents the weekly radio show Amelie Lens presents EXHALE. She personally selects and mixes the material for each episode, including new techno releases, music by EXHALE artists and tracks that do not always fit her festival sets. New episodes are published on Mondays.
The radio format allows her to present a broader range of music than a conventional prime-time performance. Some episodes focus on harder techno, while others include more melodic, atmospheric or experimental material.
By 2026, the show had received its own series of official DJ mixes on digital platforms. Amelie Lens Radio 023 was released in July 2026.
Fabric Presents and Global Underground
In 2019, Amelie recorded the compilation fabric presents Amelie Lens. Unlike her hardest festival performances, the mix followed a gradual progression from atmospheric and minimalist material towards more intense techno. It featured tracks by Nur Jaber, Anetha, Milo Spykers, AIROD, Farrago, Regal, Alignment and other producers.
In 2022, Lens prepared GU44: Amelie Lens — Antwerp for the Global Underground series. The compilation was dedicated to Antwerp, a city closely connected with a significant part of her personal and professional life. The release combined peak-time techno with more melodic tracks and reflected the structure of her extended DJ sets.
Both compilations are important for understanding Lens specifically as a DJ. They demonstrate a broader musical range than her individual original singles and document her approach to constructing a complete programme.
Releases from 2019 to 2024
In 2019, Lens released the EPs Little Robot and Hypnotized. The title track Hypnotized combined a dense rhythm section with a processed vocal phrase, while Little Robot continued the more instrumental direction of LENSKE.
In 2020, Lens released Higher and contributed Adrenaline to the first EXHALE compilation. In 2021, she collaborated with French producer AIROD on the Raver’s Heart EP, a release featuring pronounced trance and acid elements.
In 2022, In My Mind and Affection were released. The following period included the singles Feel It, Radiance, You and Me and Addicted to Bass, in which harder techno was combined with more prominent use of vocals and melodic parts.
In 2024, Lens released Breathe and Falling For You. These works featured a stronger influence from trance and more openly emotional melodies, while retaining a direct techno rhythm as their foundation.
Joint project with Charlotte de Witte
At the beginning of 2025, Amelie Lens and Charlotte de Witte presented a series of joint performances at Flanders Expo in Ghent. The first two concerts sold a combined total of 46,000 tickets, after which a third date was added.
On February 6, 2025, the artists released the collaborative two-track EP One Mind. It included One Mind and Where Do We Go, combining acid techno, trance-influenced melodies and a hard rhythmic foundation. The release appeared under the separate collaborative designation B2B.
It was the first complete studio collaboration between two of the best-known representatives of Belgium’s contemporary techno scene. They had previously appeared at many of the same festivals but had not released music together.
Serenity and subsequent singles
In 2025, Lens released the Serenity EP, followed by the single Young Forever. During the same period, she produced a remix of Anyma, Argy and Son of Son’s track Voices in My Head.
In 2026, she released Falling Into Acid Dreams, whatever you do and our frequency. The latter became the first single from her announced debut album.
AURA
In 2025, Amelie introduced a new visual performance format titled AURA, developed in collaboration with High Scream Studios. The concept uses light, shadow, movement and abstract stage design, while the visual elements remain subordinate to the musical set. The format debuted in Santiago in June 2025.
In 2026, Amelie Lens announced her debut full-length album AURA, prepared for release on her label EXHALE Records. The record contains 11 tracks and is connected with the tenth anniversary of Exhale, the artist’s first official recording. Lens uses her own voice throughout the material and explores different aspects of her musical language, ranging from direct club techno to more melodic and vocal-oriented tracks.
Musical style
Amelie Lens’s music belongs primarily to techno. Her early sets were dominated by bass-heavy minimal techno and more restrained club forms. As her festival audience expanded, her programmes became faster and denser, while acid, trance and tribal elements became increasingly prominent.
Her original compositions are characterised by a direct four-on-the-floor rhythm, short recurring vocal phrases, acid synthesiser lines and the gradual modification of a limited number of elements. Lens rarely structures tracks around a traditional song format: most of the development occurs through filtering, increasing percussion and changes in spatial processing.
During the 2020s, her music became more melodic. Tracks such as Breathe, Falling For You, Where Do We Go and our frequency feature clear trance influences and more pronounced vocal parts, while retaining their functionality as club tracks.
The term hard techno applies only to part of her sets. Lens works across peak-time techno, acid, contemporary rave sounds and more melodic forms, so reducing her entire catalogue to one subgenre would be inaccurate.
DJ technique
Amelie usually performs with several digital media players and a club mixer. For many years, her setup included the Pioneer RMX-1000 effects processor, which allows her to add percussion layers and samples and modify the sound of a track already playing.
Rather than relying on prearranged linear programmes, she prefers manual mixing. While recording a podcast for Resident Advisor, Lens specifically emphasised that she values the audible work of a DJ and does not aim to fully automate the mix.
In the studio, she works primarily in Ableton Live. Among the hardware instruments Lens has mentioned are the Elektron Analog Four and Dave Smith Pro 2. A significant part of her early studio skills developed through creating her own edits and functional tracks for DJ performances.
Personal life
Amelie Lens has been in a long-term relationship with Belgian DJ and producer Sam Deliaert, who performs under the name Farrago. They met when they were young and married in the summer of 2022. Their daughter was born in December 2023.
Farrago is connected with the history of LENSKE as one of the label’s first artists and Lens’s regular musical partner. However, LENSKE is officially presented as Amelie’s project, so describing Deliaert as its co-founder without separate confirmation would be inaccurate.
After the birth of their child, Lens continued touring while combining performances with her work on EXHALE and studio projects. In interviews, she has used the phrase touring DJ mum to describe this new stage of her life.
Major releases by Amelie Lens
- Exhale — 2016;
- Let It Go — 2016;
- Contradiction — 2017;
- Stay With Me — 2017;
- Weight of the Land — with Farrago, 2017;
- Basiel — 2018;
- Little Robot — 2019;
- Hypnotized — 2019;
- Higher — 2020;
- Adrenaline — 2020;
- Raver’s Heart — with AIROD, 2021;
- In My Mind — 2022;
- Affection — 2022;
- Feel It — 2023;
- Radiance — 2023;
- You and Me — 2023;
- Breathe — 2024;
- Falling For You — 2024;
- One Mind — with Charlotte de Witte, 2025;
- Serenity — 2025;
- Young Forever — 2025;
- Falling Into Acid Dreams — 2026;
- whatever you do — 2026;
- our frequency — 2026.
The significance of Amelie Lens’s projects
Amelie Lens’s career encompasses several distinct areas. As a DJ, she performs at international festivals and club venues; as a producer, she releases functional techno and material incorporating acid and trance elements; through LENSKE, she develops a limited circle of artists, while EXHALE brings together a label, radio show and international event series.
Her transition from local performances under the name Renée to her own labels and large-scale shows took place over approximately a decade. Club practice nevertheless remains the foundation of the project: new compositions are regularly tested in her sets, and the structure of her releases is closely connected with how the music functions on the dance floor.
The album AURA, scheduled for September 2026, is set to become the first full-length release in her discography and conclude the first ten-year stage of her production career, which began with Exhale in 2016.
