RIYL: experimental neo-classical

Label: Sonic Pieces

F.S. Blumm & Nils Frahm band together once again to deliver unto us yet another remarkable album. As A Number of Small Things points out in their synopsis, “guitars and toys are flowing next to piano and harmonium like an organic combination.” Tag Eins Tag Zwei sounds like it could’ve been made roughly a decade ago, going off of aesthetic alone. Morose and whimsy tango together on Tag Eins Tag Zwei like an inseparable couple who’ve been dancing for so long that they lack any feeling in their legs. There’s optimism underscored with shades of blue – this is accentuated with guitar and piano flourishes. “Day One Four,” my favorite track (going off these ninety second previews), reminds me of Mojave 3 with its syrupy, honeyed, lap steel guitar laid out on to rolling sunny plains of piano and strings. Listen to the preview of Tag Eins Tag Zwei below by clicking the Buy Now button, and see what you think of it. Cheers!

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Followers of the Sonic Pieces catalogue will already be familiar with the individuals of F.S.Blumm and Nils Frahm as well as their acclaimed work as a duo. But even though they’re making use of familiar instruments their new album Tag Eins Tag Zwei manages to add a new tone to their already unique language. By trading their post-processed sound sculptures that made up the two preceding albums in for intimate pieces of improvisation, this collaboration merges into the most soothing and life affirming recording the two have produced so far.



Guitars and toys are flowing next to piano and harmonium like an organic combination, shaping nine suits that abnegate any common categorization. Involving classical, jazz and folk influences it’s the genuine use of tricks and delays that lift these improvisations above the ordinary and makes them both incredibly relaxing and exciting at the same time. It is almost ironic that by capturing accidental moments of free playing, Frank and Nils are succeeding at an even more impressive scale than their already highly satisfying previous output.



The result delivers a perfect example of how immediacy can be the most powerful approach to creating music. Based on a remarkable understanding of each other’s phrasing the pair of sessions that comprises this album shows two vivid artists at the peak of their game: Unconditional spontaneity.

Price $29.16