In parallel to the release of a single for Erased Tapes, Then Patterns, Nils Frahm is already thinking about his legacy with this Old Friends New Friends, a compilation of 23 unreleased tracks recorded between 2009, the time of his first albums Wintermusik and Bells, and 2021. The German pianist took advantage of recent lockdowns to sort out his archives and avoid a messy album made up of studio scraps being released after his death. “The nature of the mind—and a hard drive—is that you forget a lot of stuff, and I hate the idea that somebody might browse through my things trying to find something I’d forgotten.” So he decided to make the selection himself: “I’ll probably burn everything before I go, but these are pieces I wanted to put out.”
There's nothing dissonant in this "anatomy of all my ways of thinking musically and playing”, which starts with a tribute (lasting only 3 minutes 49) to John Cage's 4:33. But there are gems to be discovered, such as the very cinematic Berduxa, or All Numbers End, which is always on the verge of depression, the ritornello In the Making, or the otherworldly melody The Idea Machine, which is an exploration of what makes the pianist tick. The retrospective darkens towards the end, with that intimidating levitation on The Chords Broken Down while the Old Friends finale takes a more polarising turn. 80 minutes later, Nils Frahm's legacy is assured. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz