Nils Frahm – Felt

‘Originally I wanted to do my neighbours a favour by damping the sound of my piano. If I want to play piano during the quiet of the night, the only respectful way is by layering thick felt in front of the strings and using very gentle fingers. It was then that I discovered that my piano sounds beautiful with the damper. I hear myself breathing and panting, the scraping sound of the piano’s action and the creaking of my wooden floorboards – all equally as loud as the music. The music becomes a contingency, a chance, an accident within all this rustling. My heart opens and I wonder what exactly it is that makes me feel so happy.’ – Nils Frahm

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Nils Frahm, born in 1982, had an early introduction to music. During his childhood he was taught to play piano by Nahum Brodski – a student of the last scholar of Tschaikowski. It was through this that Nils began to immerse himself in the styles of the classical pianists before him as well as contemporary composers.

The artist is already a firebrand in the modern classical world, collaborating with contemporaries such as Peter Broderick, Ólafur Arnalds and Anne Müller. His unconventional approach to an age-old instrument, played contemplatively and intimately, has won him many fans around the world.

Approaching two years since his first solo piano releases: “Wintermusik” and “The Bells”, he finally returns on October 10th 2011 with a brand new album. Released on Erased Tapes Records and entitled “Felt”, the album will coincide with a European tour in November 2011.

David Fincher’s film Fight Club is known for many things, not least of all the revolutionary title sequence that begins from inside the protagonist’s mind; 90 seconds exploring his microscopic high speed neural network, tracing a signal from the fear centre of the brain out to a single bead of sweat, trailing off a hair follicle. “Felt” follows a similar pattern – sounds originating from deep within the mechanical heart of Frahm’s instrument, microphones placed so deep inside the piano that they almost touch the strings, audio reverberating out from the hammers, finally arranged as compositions to land fully formed in the hands (and ears) of the listener.

No less impressive either: the nine tracks of “Felt” are laden with melody, timbre and a sombre yet positive tone. Something of a maudlin Haushka with less bells and whistles, captured with authenticity and coming from a place of under-produced but polished purity.

Tracks are direct, brief and generally to the point. Only one exceeds six minutes, the epic closer ‘More’, which sounds as though it could very well float away if its mooring ropes of texture were cut. Although the piano is largely unprocessed, the sparing delay, effects and layering give this track a weight that rivals a great deal of beats-based electronic music. The mike hiss and mechanical whirring subside into a reverb heavy volley of chords at the midway mark, rolling back to a reprise of the earlier melody – a fitting closure point to an assured and accomplished album.

Second track ‘Next’ is a gracious demonstration of space (as is track seven, ‘Kind). ‘Familiar’ creates and maintains the impression of an internal dialogue retrieved from WITHIN the piano – this impression is reinforced by what sounds like a loud exhaled sigh at the end. ‘Kind’ is also bookmarked by what sounds like a long breath at open and close, like you were sitting next to Frahm on the stool. This is the strength of the record; it actually conveys the inner workings of the piano as the piano itself hears it. An inner monologue, conveyed externally.

Nils was good enough to share with us some of his thoughts on the inspiration and construction of “Felt”…

How long did the album take, from recording, mixing and mastering, to the design and pressing?

NF: I started the first sketches in spring 2010 and then I kept working on it until summer 2011, so I guess over a year. This record is very minimal but also insanely detailed.

The artwork itself took over 100 hours of work as it is all painted by an old plotter printer from the 80′s. The mastering happened in several steps – it all got printed to vinyl and then re-recorded for the CD mastering.

So the mixing took me ages, because I wanted a lot of control over the whole thing. The difficult part was to not overproduce things, rather keep the spontaneous improvised feel of the record.

Was there an inspiration behind the record, beyond the aim of capturing the piano from within?

NF: The main motivation was to work at home, so that I have more time with it. “The Bells” was recorded in two days, so you really need to focus more and even if you are not happy with all the material you can’t go back and try again easily.

To avoid that kind of pressure I wanted to just use my piano. Sound is important to me, my piano is nothing too special, so I figured out a way to make my piano sound very interesting at least. The sound is always first and inspired my playing, the muted piano works best for sparse and shy playing.

Were any other musicians involved in the recording, or is it your work alone?

NF: I worked alone on this, whenever I found time between studio work and touring.

I wanted this to be like my private diary.

Is there a way to recreate the sounds on the record live, in terms of the texture?

NF: I doubt it, but I also don’t think that this is too important.

I will slightly change my live setup though and start including old synthesisers and effect boxes too.

No loop stations though…

How did your relationship with Erased Tapes develop?

NF: Erased Tapes is a wonderful label to work with. They are so supportive and energetic. They take my work very seriously and keep nothing untouched in order to make my music available to a wide audience. I couldn’t be happier.

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“Felt” is released by Erased Tapes in the UK on the 10th of October as CD, LP and download.

- Charles Sage for Fluid Radio

www.nilsfrahm.de
www.erasedtapes.com