nils frahm

Nils takes us on a nocturnal piano perambulation, where the sounds are given the space to ring out into the ether, replied to solely by the reverberations of the room - it's a quiet listen to quieten the world.

Frahm recorded the pieces on 'Night' on the Klavins M450 piano, installed in his studio at the renowned Funkhaus complex in Berlin. It was built by German-Latvian piano maker David Klavins for the first Piano Day in 2015, a celebration that will mark its 10th anniversary this March. At 4.5 meters tall and weighing over a tonne, the model was the largest upright piano in the world at the time. The record is a reminder that, although he has since become celebrated for the complex, intricate arrangements of his most commercially successful multi-instrumental albums, Frahm first made his name with similarly meditative piano compositions on albums like 2009’s 'The Bells', 2011’s 'Felt' and 2012’s 'Screws'.

'Night' opens at a glacial pace with ‘Wesen’, giving notice of the more subdued nature at the heart of this thirty-minute collection. It conjures images of Frahm, lit only by a candle, huddled over his instrument, playing for the sheer companionship that it offers, while also prompting acknowledgement of his ability to tease affecting melodies from minimal means. ‘Monuments Again’ is more immediately accessible, its subtly jazzy nature disguising a gentle melancholy, with Frahm’s fingers dancing over the keyboard with increasing intensity until, at its conclusion, he reiterates its central theme.