Nils Frahm Graz (Vinyl LP)

Piano Day 2021 sees Nils Frahm surprise the world with his Erased Tapes debut. Wait, what? How? Anyone who has seen the trail blazing sonic pioneer live will know Nils likes to deadpan a joke. Graz is in fact the first studio album he recorded for the label back in 2009, that somehow remained a secret...until now. Graz is a moment of time at the very beginning of Nils' quiet revolution. The essential genius is already evident; the harmonic language of classical, and the immediacy of jazz. Nils seems to pull down each idea moment by moment, gently, to not scare away the muse.

"A grand piano is a particular kind of beast to play, which will only sound refined and beautiful if you command a strong control over the keyboard," Frahm says. "Each slight change in touch results in a different timbre, which will be rewarded when used wisely and will be your trapdoor when you fail to hold the horses. I remember how I had to squeeze the music out of the grand piano in the 'Graz' sessions, and while I enjoy listening to it now, I kept these recordings secret for a good while – they sound like a much younger version of myself to me, and a lot of the musical expressions from that time would be impossible for me to replicate today.

"Close friends whom I had shared the record with reminded me of it once in a while, and some of the pieces got released in other versions on the album Spaces in the meantime," he adds. "But somehow, any piece of music you create wants to get out there in order to find you, which is why I'm glad to share this beast with you and do hope you enjoy listening to it too!"