Review: Nils Frahm has lost his mind

We can all agree on fact that almost every musical era has its own groundbreaking artists who push boundaries beyond our imaginations. I’ve always kind of envied my parents who witnessed the massive progress of music in their youth in the 60s and 70s, as well as to my older friends who experienced the massive start of electronic music in early/late 90s. Comparing their music memories to mine made me a bit sad since nothing too majorly exciting is happening music wise in last few years and that everything is just about the recycling of previous ideas. And then one Friday evening German musician Nils Frahm arrived on stage and I realized that small musical revolution may just have started.

Nils got back to Prague after a year and few months, although I had the pleasure to see him last year during his Sónar gig. There already it was a thrilling experience, however nothing can compare to an experience at a smaller and cosy venue, such as the Palace Akropolis – that was sold out. The support band Dawn Of Midi was just finishing their last song when I got inside. The stage was already filled with all of Nilse’s instruments and one could start thinking if this is really a one-man job — grand piano, Rhodes piano, Roland Juno 60, Space Echo tape delays, custom made “Una Corda” piano and electronically-controlled wind organ and more. The view on this set-up perfectly met the title of his current tour – “Nils Frahm has lost his mind”. He made last few checks on a stage and then opened his night with a nearly 20 mins intro played on organs. No one moved, no one said any word, we all just stared at this unobtrusive young man while he was clearly pushing himself into a higher state of being. “You were so quiet the whole time that I was thinking that this new stuff is total crap,” he added after huge applause once song ended. Modesty is his middle name.

But what makes him so special? What is it that he does that people even turn off their phones into flight mode, just as he asked us at the begining on the concert? It could be the way how he presents the music. He doesn´t just plays the instruments. He breaths with them, he feels them, he is devoting himself to them. Whether he plays gentle neo-clasiccal pieces or performs his [so favourite] experiments with synthesizers, he does that with total devotion and precision for every detail. And yet — none of his gigs are the same. And he knows how to deal with things happening live: When one piano keynote got out-of-tune, he just smiled and said to us:”Whatever, I still got 87 keys!” Just like Jimi Hendrix changed the guitar world, this man can change the approach of current musicians to classical and electronic music, not just by his way of composing or performing but even with his constant effort and passion for designing custom made instruments.

The time went incredibly fast that night. It was already a few minutes before 10 p.m. when Nils announced that he is going to play one last song. “NO! Play ten more songs!” the crowd cheered. “I like when women are demanding,” he said with a smile and sat back behind the instruments. “So I will play one more for you, but you are not allowed to clap afterwards, it’s already too late… But its very, very, very long as most of my songs.” And we all for one more time raised our eyes to him and watch how he expressed all the sadness and happiness of the world through music. “We love you!” … “Oh, you know… I love you back,” he said and left the stage with his humble smile.