All good?

Nils Frahm is the reigning king of ambient electronica. He has been releasing solo and duo albums for many years, but he has also worked with the Nonkeen collective. Nonkeen consists of Frahm on keyboards and synths with early ‘90s childhood friends, Frederic Gmeiner on bass and Sebastian Singwald on drums. It’s a modern variation of the jazz trio, even if that particular genre is avoided in the press release and largely absent in the music.

Whilst led by Frahm’s melodic and ruminative playing, the presence of a rhythm section makes All Good? into a different production than his usual work. It’s more relaxed and diverse, bringing out facets of Frahm’s playing that haven’t been heard on his releases for some time. It’s almost like he’s having fun rather than mining a deeper emotional and intellectual experience. Not that All good? is devoid of profound moments, but levity is thrown into the mix, making the eight pieces more human.

That said, All good? starts off in almost ecclesiastical fashion with ‘I’m sure’, where a slow build-up of drums and synth is joined by a swelling organ that expands upwards to summon the angels of electronica. It’s religious music for the faithless, inspiring ecstasy and enlightenment, albeit only briefly. ‘That love’ continues quietly with Rhodes keyboard, slow bass line and building drums, Frahm tapping out a lovely gentle melody. One benefit of drums is that they provide a real acoustic for this recording; it doesn’t depend on reverb, echo, or other effects to create a sense of space, and there is plenty of that to enjoy. Frahm doesn’t just provide the lead; he also conjures background textures with the occasional squiggles and blips, adding texture and body.

On ‘will never’, percussion and drums introduce synths that ebb and flow like the waves on a beach, over a low bass line that continues the down tempo theme established so far. However, the mood shifts when the bass line takes on a funkier tone and the keyboards respond with a higher pitch, building up to a climax before returning to the central theme. If this isn’t jazz, what is? ‘Be a’ continues the up-tempo vibe with a pulsing bass line and fx’d drums with lots of echo on the keyboard before Frahm’s signature wooden pipe organ brings a sense of serenity to the proceedings. But it’s not long before deeper, dirtier keys disrupt this tranquillity and take us into a bridge over Motorik beats that loses its way before finding a satisfying conclusion.

‘Product’ is the highlight of All good? It is perhaps the piece where Frahm sounds as good as he does on the best of his solo work. Here, he gains escape velocity without apparent effort and allows the listener to follow into a wider orbit before breaking things up and bringing it down only to take off again. Frahm is a very spiritual musician; at best, he matches Keith Jarrett’s ability to communicate on a different level, bypassing the intellect and revealing beauty that you cannot see with your eyes. ‘Of plasticity’ is reminiscent of his live work, with a percussive intro on the keys and drums, Frahm loves repetition and knows how to make it engaging but has the sense to add melody where needed.

‘Exclamation’ develops a pulse after a calm intro and gets into deep water before falling off a sonic cliff and rising again with string sounds that lift the spirit. On the final track, ‘mark’, the drums and bass build up a head of steam that inspires Frahm to loosen up and add some bottom end to his chords before the drummer unleashes a dramatic solo that provides the most dynamic sounds on the album. It sounds like someone is playing with phase and echo, and it soon becomes apparent that this is in a live situation where the audience’s excitement has spurred the band into action.

All good? ends with an exercise in low-end theory. No one does bass synth like Frahm, so this is a juicy workout for any system with decent extension. It rounds off an album that mixes ambience and engagement in good measure. It should appeal to Frahm’s fans and those less inspired by his more cerebral productions, and it sounds great.

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