I love Nils Frahm — firstly, because he (along with Keith Jarrett) has honorably spared me the tediousness of having to manually enter and edit complicated metadata tags often associated with pianists or classical music in general (I realize this is a very first-world problem), and secondly, because seeing him perform in concert never fails to be a breathtaking experience. Literally, Frahm has ensured the dropping down of jars from the ceiling mid-concert in order to steal our breath. The ultimate motive remains a mystery, but compliance is a worthwhile trade-off for watching the man do his thing, seemingly without effort.
Not quite as dastardly as stealing our breath, Frahm has been doing something else during these concerts, and over the course of two years: gathering potential pieces to include on his next album Spaces, set for release November 19 on Erased Tapes. Described by a press release as an “ode to the joy of live performance,” but straying from the convention of a traditional live album, Spaces was recorded in multiple locations and using different mediums, including old portable reel-to-reel recorders and cassette tape decks. A conscious decision to include takes that have people coughing (and other such show behavior) was not done out of a special appreciation for auditory phlegm, but for the purposes of capturing the whole experience and putting it to record.
A word from the Berliner himself on the subject:
What I love most about playing in front of people has something to do with a certain kind of energy exchange. The attention and appreciation of my audience feeds back into my playing. It really seems as if there is a true and equal give and take between performer and listener, making me aware of how much I depend on my audience. And since the audience is different every night, the music being played will differ too. Every space I performed in has its own magic and spirit.
Spaces tracklisting:
01. An Aborted Beginning
02. Says
03. Said And Done
04. Went Missing
05. Familiar
06. Improvisation for Piano, Laughs, Coughs and a Cell Phone
07. Hammers
08. For-Peter-Toilet Brushes-More
9. Over There, It’s Raining
10. Unter-Tristana-Ambre
11. Ross’s Harmonium
• Nils Frahm: http://www.nilsfrahm.com
• Erased Tapes: http://www.erasedtapes.com
[Photo: Tracy Morter]
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