Nils Frahm & Anne Müller Live

Although Nils Frahm and Anne Müller’s collaborative album 7Fingers has been out for some time now, the duo have kept eager audiences waiting to hear the work in a live setting. A balmy evening at Dalton’s Vortex played host to its debut live performance and proved that it was well worth being patient…

Opening the evening was Nick Palmer, aka Directorsound, who played a manner of different instruments from hand bells to autoharp. Having worked with the likes of Plinth and many others, Palmer’s solo shows take on a different life from his records. He swiftly changed from reflective drones to upbeat sea shanties with one hand on the accordion, the other playing various percussion instruments, while his tapping foot provided a chorus of bells. Within a mere half hour or so, Palmer took the audience on a journey far and wide; from Balkan infused melodies to sparse, melancholic finger-picked guitar. The closing track provided a thunderous finale of clattering bells, autoharp, harmonium, yet always remaining a very considered combination, never falling into the trap of using an instrument for the sake of it.

After the interval Anne Müller took to the stage with a fragile solo cello before being joined by Nils Frahm, briefly on vocals then moving to the piano. After opening tracks ‘Teeth’ and ‘7 Fingers’ the duo explained that they assumed they would never play this material live and still have their notebooks on stage with them as reminders of chord progressions. Playing their way through much of the album there were moments of improvisation, each allowing the other space to expand upon an idea. ‘Let My Key Be C’ reached epic proportions, soaring throughout the venue and holding the audience in awed silence.

There was an intensity on show throughout the performance with Frahm’s polyrhythmic motifs and at times almost aggresive playing complemented perfectly by Müller’s immersive layered cello arrangements which weave amongst the textures. It comes as no surprise that the duo have spent years working on and refining these tracks, such is the silent understanding between them.

All round a superb performance from both acts. In a live setting Directorsound was a revelation and Nils and Anne provided a superb debut performance of their work – hopefully not the last!

- Katie English for Fluid Radio