New Live Album From Nils Frahm: Paris

I'm normally not that into live albums, but Nils Frahm is not a normal musician. I saw him play live in 2018 when I interviewed him for Tape Op, and it was hard to believe that he was the only musician on stage. Blending electronic elements with jazz, ambient, classical, and minimalism into his instrumental music, he's honed his gear and live performance into a well-oiled instrumental machine that only he can play. Even though he was the only musician on stage, he told me he had seven techs with him to keep things running smoothly. One tech was even dedicated to mainly maintaining the many analog tape delays he was using.

Paris is a recording of one show, one night, March 21, 2024, at the Philharmonie de Paris, 84 minutes.

The album is a great listen. It's every bit as complex and interesting as his studio albums, and not at all marred by extraneous audience noises. I didn't initially even realize it was a live album until the applause at the end of the first track, a testament to his attentive and quiet audience. At one point however he employs the audience to collectively make animal sounds (his 2022 album, Music for Animals, was on my top list of that year), and he then samples the audience and uses that to start the next song. Although this just came out, I can tell I'll be listening to this one quite a bit in the coming year. -JB

Available streaming and on 2LP vinyl.