Nils Frahm

Nils Frahm (born 20 September 1982) is a German musician, composer, and record producer based in Berlin. He is known for combining classical and electronic music and for an unconventional approach to the piano in which he mixes a grand piano, upright piano, Roland Juno-60, Rhodes piano, drum machines, and Moog Taurus.

In addition to his solo work, Frahm has released collaborations with such notable performers as Ólafur Arnalds, F. S. Blumm, Anne Müller and Woodkid. With Frederic Gmeiner and Sebastian Singwald he records and performs as Nonkeen.

Frahm had an early introduction to music. His father, Klaus Frahm, was a photographer who also designed covers for ECM Records. He grew up near Hamburg, where he learned the styles of the classical pianists as well as contemporary composers. At school he used mixing boards and was very interested in the quality of recorded sound. He studied classical piano for 8 years under Nahum Brodsky, the protégé of the protégé of Tchaikovsky, who lived in a neighbouring village. In 2006, rather than pursue an orchestra career, Frahm moved to Berlin as a jobbing technician.

Frahm's earlier solo piano works Wintermusik (2009) and The Bells (2009) gained him attention, but it was his 2011 release Felt that was met with critical acclaim. It was his first studio album on Erased Tapes, which has released his music since. It was followed by the solo synthesizer EP Juno; and by Screws (2012), recorded while Frahm was recovering from a thumb injury, and which was offered as a free download to fans on his birthday. His follow-up to Juno, titled Juno Reworked (2013), featured guest reworks by Luke Abbott and Chris Clark.

Frahm's album Spaces (2013) was made of sound collages of live recordings from various venues spanning two years.

In December 2013, Frahm released his first music book, Sheets Eins (Sheets One), published by Manners McDade. In 2016 the follow-up Sheets Zwei was released.

In 2014, Frahm announced his new piano "Una Corda", specially designed and made for him by David Klavins. It weighs under 100 kg and has one string per key. (Standard pianos have from one to three strings per key.)

His album Solo (2015), an improvised single take with no overdubs, was later recorded on the "Modell 370", a 370 cm high vertical piano also made by David Klavins. It was one of 19 records nominated for the IMPALA Album of the Year Award.