Nils Frahm: Spaces

By JUICE Malaysia • 03 Mar 2014 in Review

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Text Christopher Ujine Ong

MINIMALIST MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE
How prophetic and propitious it was that Nils Frahm was reintroduced into one’s life by a good relation a month before his latest album was duly plonked on one’s lap for review. And how glad one is to be able to sit down and give this Berlin-based pianist and composer’s latest a proper listen. Live recordings culled over two years but sequenced as though it was a continuous session complete with audience reactions, it is a sampler-summation of his talents at recorded compositions and live performances.

If Ryuichi Sakamoto and Ólafur Arnalds (bad pun alert!) “shivers your timbres”, then this German composer’s subtle blend of electronic flourishes and piano would, erm, quiver your quills. Starting with a brief, dubby ‘An Aborted Beginning’, Frahms segues into the single ‘Says’, building from an ambient loop and rolling into an arpeggio of melodic synths, and ending the album on the plaintive ‘Ross’s Harmonium’. Both conceptual (in the incorporation of audience and ambient sounds) and not highfalutin (the longest, loudest track is titled ‘For – Peter – Toilet Brushes – More’) it’s neo-classical minimalist musique concrète that’s quite a quiet delight for the senses.

LISTEN TO: ‘Says’
IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU’LL DIG: Ólafur Arnalds
RATING: 4