on december 14, 2015, bt disclosed news to "dj mag" about a new album to come by early 2016. similar to "this binary universe", bt explained that "the entire record is recorded in a way [i've] never recorded anything before," and that it has a "modular, ambient aesthetic". the album, "_", was released digitally on october 14, 2016, and physically on december 2, 2016 via black hole recordings, along with an accompanying film. due to the restrictions of most music sites, which forbid blank album titles, bt chose to name the album the underscore character "_". bt has admitted that this title has resulted in complaints from fans about difficulties in finding the album on popular services due to the inability of most search engines to handle the "_" character. on january 17, 2017, bt released "_+", an extended version of _.