All Melody

Album review

While a whole generation of musicians seems to have adapted to nomadic composition, often between two dates in a plane or in a tour bus, there still are some that like the quality of studio production. Whatever the most-seasoned chamber producers may say, the surroundings are a major factor in the success of a recording (ask Ben Frost or Midori Takada). When other people release maxi CDs every two months, Nils Frahm, German virtuoso of the electric (or sometimes not) piano, took two years to imagine and build his “dream studio”. He put it in a place steeped in history, the Funkhaus Berlin, former headquarters of the East German public broadcasting that was transformed into a studio and concert hall facility. Nils Frahm has thus taken residence in Saal 3 to patiently build a pipe organ that you’ll hear emerging from the first tracks of the disc, like this profession of faith The Whole Universe Wants to Be Touched. With this seventh album which, track after track, makes us dive once again with delight into his oneiric—and almost subaquatic—world, the German pursues his quest for perfection, which he knows to be unreachable. “The music I hear inside me will never end up on a record, as it seems I can only play it for myself. This record includes what I think sticks out and describes my recent musical discoveries in the best possible way I could imagine.” We certainly want him to keep trying…© Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz