Nils Frahm releases new album for Piano Day 2021
Experimental ivory tinkler Nils Frahm has released a surprise new album today, to celebrate Piano Day 2021.
Having founded the event back in 2015, timed to mark the 88th day of the year. Piano Day celebrates all that is good about the beloved keyboard instrument, which has been the focus of Frahm’s recording career for well over a decade.
Apparently, the new album Graz, actually dates from 2009, and was Frahm’s first for the Erased Tapes label. However, it never saw the light of day; Frahm instead decided to focus on the close-mic’d, dampened piano pieces that ended up forming the basis of 2011 album Felt.
In addition, despite having a more natural grand piano sound, Graz, is still distinctively Frahm, though more tonally conventional than some of his recorded outings.
Frahm had this to say in a press release: “Sometimes when you hear a piano, you might think it’s a conversation between a woman and a man. At the same time, it can hint at shapes of the universe and describe how a black hole looks. You can make sounds that have no relation to anything we can measure.”
Graz is available to stream now, with physical editions available from 21 May.