Nils Frahm – Solo – Album Review by Killian Laher

German pianist Nils Frahm declared March 29th to be Piano Day in an attempt to celebrate the piano, and has marked it by releasing a brand new album, Solo.  It opens with the stately piano piece Ode and this followed by the sparse Some, which creates a wonderfully downcast atmosphere.  It’s all very tranquil, many of the pieces such as Circling and Merry float serenely by.  The pace picks up on Wall, where piano is pounded rather than played after the almost static Chant, however it doesn’t fit as well here, interrupting the glacial mood like the old man shouting in the corner of the bar in the afternoon.  Immerse! Is the longest piece here at ten minutes and is very much the centrepiece, a sort of self-contained darkness at the heart of the album.  We finish with Four Hands, which is probably the most complex piece here (hence the title), implying overdubs here and there.  An ephemeral album, surely, but pleasingly so.

Available to download via pianoday.org

 Track List –

1. Ode
2. Some
3. Circling
4. Merry
5. Chant
6. Wall
7. Immerse!
8. Four Hands