A Winged Victory For The Sullen & Nils Frahm - Live At The Albert Hall, BBC Proms 2015

Some nice juicy repeats of older concerts in this year's BBC Proms broadcast programme - for obvious reasons, the live schedule had to be significantly downsized.  Here's a stunning event that I missed when it first happened, with another one to be posted next Monday.

As both main artists allude to, this Proms concert was in large part thanks to BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Mary Anne Hobbs, who'd been promoting their music on her show and ended up introducing them live here at the Royal Albert Hall.  A Winged Victory For The Sullen appear first, performing two mini-suites from their Atomos album (see links list below), the languid, melancholy sound given some extra heft by the London Brass.  There was also a visual dimension with the dancers of Studio Wayne McGregor.

After a seamless transition that features a short collaborative improvisation, AWVFTS leave the stage in the hands of Nils Frahm and his pianos, synths & toilet brushes (see image above).  Frahm performs an equally spellbinding set of his Spaces-era (in links list below) material, moving from the sequencer-based Says to a couple of piano pieces, then finishing up with his epic Toilet Brushes/More medley.

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pw: sgtg

AWVFTS at SGTG:
s/t debut
Atomos
Nils Frahm at SGTG:
The Bells
7Fingers
Felt
Spaces
Collaborative Works

Nils Frahm & Anne Müller - 7Fingers (2010)

Before her appearance on the Stare EP, German experimental cellist Anne Müller had already collaborated with Nils Frahm on this 2009 joint venture.  First given a private release in a specially-packaged limited run, 7Fingers was reissued by Erased Tapes and US label Hush the following year.

Müller's overdubbed cello lines get a chance to shine on their own first, before the title track sets out the MO for the album: Frahm in heavily electronic mode, with the cello lines either chopped & spliced or multi-tracked and effects laden.  The Reich/Glass-esque Let My Key Be C is an early highlight that dances around your ears before the core of album heads into glitchier territory once more.

Reminds To Teeth with its mix of piano, cello and ambient sounds is a mellower favourite for me, and the album ends with a vocal track sung by Berlin artist Andreas Bonkowski.  This closer, Long Enough, does sound a bit like an end credits song for some European indie thriller, but none the worse for it.  It's actually a perfect ending for a really nice album of interesting twists and turns.

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pw: sgtg

Nils Frahm & Ólafur Arnalds - Collaborative Works (2015 compi, rec. 2011-15)

Back to Erased Tapes, with a compilation that does exactly what it says on the tin: brings together an hour's worth of EP tracks recorded by labelmates & close friends Nils Frahm & Ólafur Arnalds.  Then tops it off with a bonus 40 minutes drawn from an evening's improvisations whilst planning the reissue of the EPs.

The EP tracks find both artists in a much more pure electronic mode that they normally operate in, most notably on the superb 25 minutes of Loon, recorded 2014 and originally released as a 12" the following year.  They skirt the edges of Cluster-esque minimalism before taking a full-on dive into it with the standout tracks W and M.  This is followed by the three untitled tracks of 2012's more atmospheric Stare EP.  German cellist Anne Müller (who had previously collaborated with Frahm on 2009's 7Fingers album) proves an inspired and understated third partner on the longest track.  Lastly, the 2015 7" (recorded in 2012) Life Story/Love & Glory returns to the more familiar piano-and-ambience of Felt.

As noted above, when meeting up to arrange the EP compilation, Frahm and Arnalds decided to record a new exclusive track for it.  This turned in to an entire evening of spontaneous loveliness, and was titled Trance Frendz, receiving its own vinyl release in 2016.  The first three tracks are again in Felt mode, based around gentle piano and electronics, and washes of harmonium in 23:17 (each track is named after the time recording started).  Then there's a change of scenery with 23:52's swelling synth and harmonium atmosphere, and the pure electronics of 00:26.  Entering the small hours, everything mellows out once more with tinkling piano and music box ambience.  Essential, gorgeous music from start to finish.

Disc 1 link
Disc 2 link

Nils Frahm - Felt (2011)

Fingers crossed we've now seen the last of a particularly cold winter, at least round these parts - and here's the perfect album to announce the coming of spring.  Nils Frahm's first great full-length album of piano based sound exploration starts with the wonderful Keep, sounding like a finally defrosted country stream in full flow as piano, subtle electronics and I think marimba and/or xylophone combine into a kind of Steve-Reich-in-minature thing of beauty.

After this, Felt gets right down to business in letting every possible sound of the piano and its ambient environment breathe and fill out the sonic landscape.  This is where Nils got right in to having absolutely everything miked up - the insides of the piano (often prepared with the titular sheets of felt, so as not to disturb his neighbours at night), the room ambience, his own breathing and body movements - at first listen, this can seem a bit much to some ears accustomed to these extraneous sounds being excluded, but they're fully regarded as part of the music here.

Once you've got accustomed to the slightly odd sound of the piano hammers - at least, that was my initial sticking point - this method of recording enhances every track.  The gorgeous stillness of Less and Pause, the gentle rhythms of Familiar, the Erik Satie-Harold Budd-continuum loveliness of Kind - all become amplified not just sonically, but in meaning and importance, as if being allowed to witness music at a microscopic level, with previously unseen inner workings bursting into life.

As Old Thought progresses from melancholy harmonium into more xylophone and the subtlest of synth sequences, the formula seems to have been perfected - but just wait until the closing track More.  Memorably reworked as part of an epic blowout on Spaces, this original is all the more stunning for witnessing its introductory flights of notes and slow middle section up close.

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Nils Frahm - Spaces (2013)

In anticipation of the new album he's releasing later this month, here's some more Nils Frahm - previously posted was his solo piano masterpiece The Bells.  Two tracks from that album get nicely fleshed out on this patchwork-style live release (one of them tripling in length), and there's lots more to be amazed by across the 76 minutes of Spaces.  This album was my introduction to Frahm at full tilt, blending synth sequences with lightning-fingered piano improvisations and further electronic manipulation on the fly.

Occasionally this seat-of-the-pants approach doesn't take off.  It's actually to Frahm's credit (and indicative of his self-deprecating sense of humour - the sleevenotes are essential reading!) that he not only leaves in one of these failed experiments, but opens the album with it, giving a nice little snapshot of his developing craft.  When he gets into the groove though, Frahm is utterly electrifying.  Nowhere is this better displayed than on the epic medley of For-Peter-Toilet Brushes-More, which takes the third part of its title from the household objects that Frahm beats the piano strings with.  And yes, as live footage I've seen can attest, they were fresh-out-of-the-wrapper brushes.

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Nils Frahm - The Bells (2009)

Looking for the ideal wind-down for this first September weekend?  May I suggest 40 minutes of exquisite solo piano, courtesy of pianist/composer/producer Nils Frahm, born 1982 in Hamburg.  In November 2008, Frahm and composer friend Peter Broderick rented a Berlin church for two nights, capturing over five hours of Frahm's improvisations with Broderick providing idiosyncratic musical direction (at one point lying down on the piano strings).  The best of these sessions was then trimmed down to album length.

The end result clearly displays Frahm's talent for melody and harmony, and a Jarrett-esque knack for pulling instant classics out of thin air.  But even more than that, The Bells is primarily an album about exploiting the resonances of the piano and the ambient atmosphere of the church to their fullest extent.  It's certainly no mellow, Harold Budd-like chillout experience, although these moments are evident - but if you were to use this album for relaxation you'll frequently find the mood punctured by several instances of Frahm letting rip at full power, like someone taking a snooze on a churchyard bench only to be jolted awake by pealing bells.

Inspired by the recording venue, Frahm seems to enjoy these bell-like piano tones ringing through the reverberating space as majestically as possible.  I'm reminded more than once of Erik Satie's Ogives, especially a recent ECM New Series rendering by Sarah Rothenberg (the album centered around Feldman's Rothko Chapel; may post it at some point).  Stirring, invigorating stuff.

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