Nils Frahm

Nils Frahm

Nils Frahm is a German pianist, composer and record producer from Hamburg, known for combining classical and electronic music. He is based in Berlin and works across ambient, electronic, instrumental, minimalism and modern classical music.

Background

Frahm is born in 1982 and grows up near Hamburg. His father, Klaus Frahm, is a photographer who also designs covers for ECM Records. He has an early introduction to music, learns classical piano repertoire and contemporary composers, and at school becomes interested in mixing boards and the sound quality of recordings.

Solo work

His earlier solo piano releases Wintermusik and The Bells, both from 2009, bring him wider attention. His 2011 album Felt receives critical acclaim and is his first studio album on Erased Tapes, the label that continues to release his music. He follows it with the solo synthesiser EP Juno and Screws in 2012, a recording made while he is recovering from a thumb injury and offered as a free download on his birthday.

Juno Reworked appears in 2013 and includes guest reworks by Luke Abbott and Chris Clark. That same year he releases Spaces, a set of live recordings taken from different venues over a period of more than two years. In 2014 he announces a new piano, Una Corda, designed and made for him by David Klavins; it weighs under 100 kg and uses one string per key instead of the usual three.

His album Solo appears in 2015 as a single-take improvisation without overdubs, and is later recorded on the Modell 370, a 370 cm vertical piano also made by David Klavins. The record is one of the 19 albums nominated for the IMPALA Album of the Year Award. His track More is also used in a condensed form in the Assassin’s Creed Unity gamescom trailer.

Collaborations and side projects

Alongside his solo work, Frahm releases collaborations with Anne Müller, Ólafur Arnalds, F. S. Blumm and Woodkid. He also records and performs as Nonkeen with Frederic Gmeiner and Sebastian Singwald; the verified facts also list Siva., Oliveray and nonkeen among associated members. Frahm works with Woodkid on the short film ELLIS, directed by JR and released in 2015.

Film and composition work

In 2015 Frahm writes his first original film score for Victoria, a German film directed by Sebastian Schipper and shot as a 140-minute continuous take.

Books and other projects

In December 2013 he publishes his first music book, Sheets Eins, through Manners McDade. Sheets Zwei follows in 2016. He also creates Piano Day in 2015, celebrated on the 88th day of the year in reference to the 88 keys of a standard piano, usually 29 March or 28 March in leap years. The first Piano Day project is the construction of the Modell 450 with David Klavins, designed as the successor to the Modell 370.

Approach

Frahm is noted for an unconventional use of the piano and related instruments, mixing grand piano, upright piano, Roland Juno-60, Rhodes piano, drum machines and Moog Taurus in his work. He describes an interest in how music affects people’s emotions and attitudes, and in the idea of changing how listeners feel through sound.