Nils Frahm
Englert Theatre — Wednesday, March 28 at 8 p.m.
The Englert Theatre will host renowned German composer, performer and producer Nils Frahm for a 2 hour solo set on Wednesday, March 28. Tickets are $15-25. The event is co-presented by Mission Creek Festival and Feed Me Weird Things.
Frahm began his All Melody tour in New York City last week and will play shows throughout North America this spring. He’ll be traveling with over two tons of equipment, including monitors, speakers, pianos and 11 keyboards for the upcoming dates.
“They really should expect to see somebody on stage who goes pretty mental about all these instruments and sounds,” Frahm told Little Village in a recent interview.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeG0b1XgtBP/?hl=en&taken-by=nils_frahm
Frahm is a virtuoso pianist who is recognized for his ability to combine classical and electronic music to produce mesmerizing compositions. His unique sound design has gained him critical acclaim around the globe.
In 2011 Frahm released Felt. The album name refers to the heavy felt cloth that Frahm placed on the strings of his piano to dampen the sound so he could play at night without bothering his neighbors. After discovering how captivating this new sound was, Nils put a microphone deep inside of the piano to capture it.
This brought a mix of external sounds to the recording that most producers would try to hide: the creaking of floorboards for example, or the scraping of the piano. Frahm used these natural noises to create an energy that almost places the listener next to him in his home studio where the album was recorded. It’s a piece of music that must be heard to be truly felt.
Fast forward to present day and we arrive at Frahm’s newest album, All Melody.
All Melody was recorded at Saal 3, Frahm’s personal studio space inside Berlin’s historic Funkhaus Studio. Built from 1953-1956, Funkhaus is the largest recording complex ever built. Frahm has spent the past two years reconstructing the space, and he said All Melody was born out of the freedom that his new space provides.
“In terms of sound and workflow it’s my dream studio,” Frahm said. “It was a lifelong dream to have a studio that was full of possibilities and it was about time to realize that dream. Now I don’t know what I’m going to do next.”
Frahm plans to touch on a broad range of emotions on stage during this tour.
“There’s really intense moments and also really somber moments,” he said. “Depending on the energy and the feel of the night, things take all kinds of different directions. The people in the room think they see me doing something but they don’t realize how much they are adding to the performance.”
For his show at the Englert Theatre, Frahm is looking forward to the exchange of energy in the room. “It’ll be what you’d expect to hear,” he said, “but also the exact opposite.”
