Paris - Nils Frahm
Recorded at the Philharmonie de Paris and one and a half years after releasing his magnum opus ‘Music For Animals’ — described by PopMatters as “a musical waterfall of monumental proportions” — Nils Frahm shares a new live album via his LEITER label. [Source]
My introduction to Frahm was via his piece (included on this album) entitled Hammers. It was used as background music for a promotional video for the iA Writer word processor. The music was enticing, a simple, yet richly woven harmonic progression rendered with great technical care.
My attention to this album, then, comes out of my work in trying and discovering cool apps on my Mac. And my love for contemporary music, alongside the baroque and classical.
For those unfamiliar with Frahm’s music, he’s a keyboardist, performing on pianos, prepared pianos, and synthesizers. His music is usually formulated around interesting tonal harmonic progressions. Many have a repetitive nature, and in some ways, take inspiration from Philip Glass’s style. But that’s unfair, he’s not a copycat.
This album is heavy on the use of synths. The contrast with piano works well, even when it’s a digital voice. The second track, Right, Right, Right is as much about the texture and sound as it is the harmonic sequence. As the piece unfolds it’s hard for me to believe it’s a live performance, the quality of sound suggests a studio. The jazzy progression is nice, but it’s the little pops and effects that emerge from the texture that pushes the performance beyond the mundane toward something we can admire in terms of its creativity and evolution. Clocking in at 16 minutes, it’s the type of piece that I can imagine would be enhanced with lights and even entertainment. A few times I could picture in the creative recess of my mind a Cirque du Soleil performance taking place overhead. It’s when the drum beat comes in that I think we can all realize how this music lacks pretension. It’s something a lot of people likely could enjoy.
Some is the shortest piece on the album. It’s still a gem, I think, despite its brevity of musical material.
Spells opens softly, emerging from the ether as percussive rumblings, but as the sequence unfolds, it’d not only percussive, but also melodic. Frahm’s able to take advantage not only of digital reverb in the synth voicings, but the acoustics of the Philharmonia. Like other pieces, it’s builds upon the formal structure of Ravel’s Bolero by growing in dynamic intensity overtime. In terms of the piece’s utility, I’m thinking it would be an ideal soundtrack for exploring an aquarium, perhaps an a cathedral at night?
The track Our Own Roof is from the soundtrack to the film Victoria, a German caper film. The harmonic progression isn’t unfamiliar, but even so, its emotionally satisfying. Without seeing the film, this piece calls to the night. Maybe one with a good beverage, devoted to meditating in good company.
The final track presents what I consider one of the composer/performer’s masterpieces, the aforementioned Hammers. We get that harmonic progression from the first track, at least in part, to my ears. But this is the piece, unlike the others, is frenetic instead of being ethereal. Hearing this on synths instead of piano is a nice variation. It loses a bit of the original’s dynamic punch, but is otherwise the crown on this album.
I appreciate how many of these pieces get connected, in the way that Enigma or Pink Floyd run their pieces together. (The third track, Briefly also made me think of Enigma, in one of the voices he uses, evocative of their sound.) It’s a great concept for a concert and we occasionally are reminded of this album’s live performance with audience applause and cheers.
If you’re looking for something different, this is a generous soundscape of an album, steeped in the power of interesting harmonic progressions, texture, and if you have the time to see how simple themes can be developed with a rich orchestration of synths, there are, I think, rewards to be found.
