The Answer Is In The Beat

Nils Frahm: Spaces (Erased Tapes, 2013)

November 17, 2013 at 12:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Collection of live recordings from Berlin composer (which means watch for applause at the end/beginning of tracks). Definitely enjoying this way more than any other recordings I’ve heard by him. “An Aborted Beginning” is a short dub intro, then “Says” is a seriously fantastic Berlin School-ish minimalist synthesizer piece, which just keeps growing and getting more intense and beautiful. “Said And Done” starts very repetitively, just plunking on one note for a minute and a half before the melody starts playing over the one note which continues in the background. “Went Missing” is a quieter, simpler, shorter piano piece. “Familiar” seems a little more spacey/echoey. “Improvisation For Coughs and a Cell Phone” starts with unintelligible speaking, a cough, and then rapid clusters of piano notes. “Hammers” is a fast, rollicking, arpeggiating piano piece, with a bit of wordless vocals singing along toward the end. “For – Peter – Toilet Brushes – More” is an incredible multi-part suite, starting with big epic synths, then going into knocking percussion after 7 minutes, leading the way into staccato piano notes, which get more expressive and eventually gain some dubby echo so some of the notes repeat in rhythm. “Over There, It’s Raining” is a shorter, more impressionistic piano piece. “Unter – Tristana – Ambre” is another long piano suite, but doesn’t get as intense as previous pieces. “Ross’s Harmonium” is a beautiful, fragile harmonium drone, with a softly pulsing rhythm. Frahm mentions in the liner notes how all of the recordings were made with different mediums in different places and different situations, making it like a field recording album, and that there’s no room to fix any mistakes once you’re performing live. So there’s definitely a bit of looseness that isn’t quite present with a controlled, perfected studio recording, but it still sounds pretty intensely constructed and skillfully performed.