Over the years they have collaborated a couple of times and joined each other on stage or in the studio for different performances. One of the coolest, in my opinion, is a nearly 47-minute video titled Trance Frendz. The performance takes place in Nils Frahm’s studio in Berlin (an amazing-looking space in its own right, I wish they had done a studio tour of this room) and documents some improvised pieces of music over the course of the eight hours that they were together. The pair move around the room and make use of different pianos, organs, and synthesizers, creating fairly minimal and beautiful pieces of music together.
What has always been inspiring and significant to me about this video is the nature of how it is presented, the intent behind the video, and how these two artists are able to fall in sync and respond to each other through instruments and music.
The presentation of the video is aesthetically pleasing. An apartment studio in Germany as the sun is setting, natural ambient light filling the room while these composers improvise together. Not only does it sound good (important), it looks good (also important). This is probably one of my weird quirks but I can easily get inspired not just by the way something sounds, but the way it looks. Watching these guys play piano makes me want to play piano. Watching them turn knobs on a synthesizer makes me want to turn knobs on a synthesizer. The visuals are captured beautifully in this video. The audio is wonderful as well. The floor groans, the piano benches creak, you can hear the mechanical noises of the instruments, Olafur and Nils breathe and sigh as they react to the music.
The intent behind the video is very clear as well. These two composers set aside time to be in the same space and play music together. You can hear them talk between songs about switching instruments and what their approach will be as they sit down in front of something new. Olafur sits at the upright piano and says “I’m going to do less now, maybe stick with three notes.”
It seems like maybe they had even discussed changing instruments beforehand as each piece features something new, and some combinations you wouldn’t expect. Olafur plays a grand piano while Nils operates a reed organ. Nils switches to a growling, distorted Oberheim Four Voice synthesizer while Olafur jumps in on that same organ. The two play a Korg PS-3100, adding notes and changing parameters on the fly. Olafur records some piano lines onto a Nagra tape recorder, then the two improvise over the tape playing back at half speed. The video ends with Olafur back on the grand piano and Nils holding a glockenspiel while they laugh and play haunting, dissonant notes over a tape of the reed organ playing at a quarter speed.
The entire video is a display of artistry and restraint. Surrounded by incredible vintage gear, Olafur and Nils make use of many different instruments at their disposal, playing each one with care and expertise. Not just that, but they use what is available. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve left gear sitting unused or unappreciated. Of course, I’ve never had 50-year-old synthesizers or vintage grand pianos in my apartment, but the principal stands. I’m sure we are all guilty of not using what we own and instead just scrolling through Marketplace or Sweetwater looking for something new that might inspire us. Inspiration could be found right now in the gear you already own. Is this video an extreme example of that idea? Sure.
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