Review: Nils Frahm at East Perth Power Station

Nils Frahm at East Perth Power Station
w/ Ganavya
Wednesday, February 26, 2025

It was a wonderful line-up of diverse artists at this year’s Perth Festival, though sadly last week was the final one at the incredible old power station venue, which was a resounding success and the jewel in the crown of this year’s season. We can only hope it returns next year, and it will be interesting to see what they do with it in the meantime, but Wednesday night saw the venue host the first of two truly epic concerts from German maestro Nils Frahm, who wowed the crowd with his live spectacle.

The classically trained pianist and composer has embraced electronic music production and fused the two together. He’s developed something of a cult following and become an in-demand performer, playing the world’s most prestigious venues. A one-man orchestra, he moves between an incredible array of keyboards, synths, effects, percussion, and other assorted musical instruments, including the crowd itself! (More on that later…)

The show was simply called ‘Music for Perth.’ Frahm names each of his shows after the host city, as while he may play similar sets around the world, he believes that each performance is unique and the music combines with the venue, people, and place to create something greater. And anyone who witnessed his incredible show on Wednesday would undoubtedly agree, with the vast, monolithic structure and its unique acoustics adding to the immense atmosphere and scale of the concert, along with the attentive, generous crowd.

His set was based on his 2024 album Paris, which is a live recording of his performance at the Philharmonie de Paris Grande salle Pierre Boulez, made up of songs from his huge back catalogue that he has reworked. Perhaps in some ways his performances are more suited to the pristine sound and comfort of a seated concert hall, but the industrial setting of the old power station added another dimension to the show.

Frahm works in a similar space to contemporaries like Olafur Arnolds and Max Richter, who also happened to be in Perth last week for the first time. A new generation of neo-classical composers and producers, influenced by the likes of Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, but Frahm stands alone in his own right as a virtuoso pianist and consummate showman who seamlessly blends the traditional with experimental ambient techno and lush, vibrant widescreen soundscapes.

Setting the scene for the night was well-chosen support act Ganavya, who stunned the early crowd with her magnificent, entrancing voice, accompanied by some wonderful intricate, harmonic harp playing.

The New York-born, Tamil Nadu-raised, California-based artist, vocalist, musician, and scholar blends traditional Indian sounds and singing with a jazz influence and minimalist ambient vibes to create something new and quite extraordinary. Her incredible vocal control, soothing and soaring voice, along with the sparse angelic melodies of the harp, created a warm, relaxing, deeply spiritual sound that washed over the crowd, and then she was gone way too soon. A meditative, ethereal experience.

Ganavya means “one who was born to spread music” in Sanskrit—and may she continue on her noble quest to live up to her name and share her wonderful, unique gift with the world. Hope she comes back soon for a full set.

But tonight was about another travelling minstrel and musical maestro, on his first visit to Perth. After hearing rave reviews of his shows and how incredible he was at Dark Mofo 2022, it was wonderful we finally got to see Nils Frahm in WA. These are the sort of special shows that would not make it to our shores without the support of Perth Festival.

Frahm came onstage to warm applause and took his place in the middle of the steampunk-like assortment of wooden boxes and tables, along with all manner of keyboards, contraptions and equipment. Each one was set up very specifically with a purpose: to summon a different sound. He put on some special gloves and wet his hands, flicking water out into the crowd, as if baptising them, though this wasn’t for some symbolic religious gesture—it was required for the opening track.

The first song on the new live album is fittingly called Prolog. Hearing the audio, you might think it’s played on some string instrument or synthesiser, but it is in fact played on the glass armonica—a fascinating instrument that creates otherworldly sounds. It was invented in 1761 by Benjamin Franklin and was more recently resurrected in the 1980s by Gerhard Finkenbeiner, a master glassblower.

Frahm’s instrument was in fact the final glass armonica constructed by Finkenbeiner, who died mysteriously in 1999. It comprises a series of different-sized glass bowls, mounted sideways on a spindle. The sound is made by applying slight pressure to the edges with wet fingers, much in the way you can make a wine glass ‘sing’ by running a wet finger around the rim. As it spun around slowly above one of his keyboards reflecting the light, it looked a bit like a glass kebab, though the haunting, harmonic sound he conjured out of it was quite incredible.

After the gentle introduction to his world, Right Right Right was a more epic piece that goes for around 15 minutes through various movements. Starting as a sparse piano piece, it slowly grew with soft fluttering beats as liquid synth stuttered and shimmered over the top.

Next up was Nils’ party trick, where he asked for the crowd to transform into wild animals. It was so he could sample us and incorporate the sounds into the mix, he explained. He’s such a polite, softly spoken German, with a glint in his eye, like some mischievous but kind sprite, “Please no apes, cats or dogs, or things that are quite familiar. Maybe make up some animals.” A Perth crowd doesn’t have to be asked twice, and the power station turned into a menagerie of all manner of creatures, as a cacophonous din rang out into the night.

After playing it back for us, he moved onto the ironically named Briefly (another piece over 15 minutes), which was a highlight on his 2022 magnum opus Music For Animals (the original version runs for 27 minutes!). It’s a really great track that builds and builds with gently floating, looping synth lines, with occasional samples of the crowd animal noises drifting in and out of the mix. It’s music reminiscent of the great old-school ambient acts like The Orb and FSOL. While Frahm’s albums are immaculately produced, it’s striking how much more dynamic, atmospheric and engaging his music is live, with such full, warm, analogue sounds.

For such a large crowd at an outdoor festival, everyone was respectfully quiet throughout the show, like that of a concert hall witnessing a classical performance—and in a way, we were. The quieter moments demanded silence. He juxtaposes delicate, elegant ambience that can lull you into a dreamlike state with louder layers of melodies, squelchy synths, throbbing bass and beats that had you moving.

For the tech nerds, his live arsenal is impressive. Amongst his instruments and vintage keyboards are his custom-built upright piano ‘Una Corda,’ a classic Roland Juno-6 and SH-2, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron, Moog Taurus, drum machine, percussion, and effects, like the Roland Space Echo tape delay. While he performs alone, he tours with several techs who look after his valuable collection of hardware.

With seemingly his whole studio set up onstage, he can play, sample, loop, mix and tweak effects in any way he so desires. He moved between two distinct ‘stations,’ surrounded by keyboards, sometimes playing two at once with arms stretched out, then spinning on his chair and moving to another, adding another layer to the mix. It was simply amazing to witness his wizardry live, at the centre of it all, his masterful control of so many moving parts is impressive.

There was another short, gentle piano moment with You Name It from 2024’s Day EP, as smoke wafted across the vast stage and minimal lighting was used to great effect. The quiet calm was only spoiled during a few moments by an overzealous security guard.

It’s deeply emotive music, as can be seen in the intensity and passion with which Nils plays, eyes closed, moving his whole body, sometimes waving his hands as if conjuring the sounds into existence. Weaving deep, atmospheric grooves into a dense sonic tapestry like on the magic Spells from 2019’s All Encores.

Taken from 2013’s Spaces album, Hammers featured incredibly fast, precise playing and rapid repeated arpeggios with his fingers hammering the keys. Ending abruptly, the climactic moment drew huge applause. While that was the last track on the Paris album, we were treated to some more. Another of his masterworks from Spaces, the relatively short (eight-minute) Says was a welcome bonus. Extraterrestrial sounds echoed into the warm night sky, notes that bend and blend and evolve into something greater as he built up a rising wall of sound.

Most of the show had subdued, subtle, minimal lighting, which suited the music. But as anyone who’d seen some other more explosive acts (like Royksopp) at the venue would know, the main stage’s lighting rig was a mighty beast, amplified by the incredible space and the smoke machine—so it was great to see it be utilised more for some of his bigger tunes, to create an incredible immersive audio-visual experience.

Nils grinned, bowed, waved goodnight, and left the stage to huge cheers. Surely it wasn’t over just yet! He soon returned, not wanting to waste time. “Someone said I can’t play the encore… Other people say I can play the encore,” he said somewhat bemused in his German accent. He played the encore.

Finishing with a sequence of tracks from Spaces—first the beautiful, fast, twinkling piano of the contrastingly named Toilet Brushes, which led seamlessly into the more fat, funky, and full sound of More.

What a musical odyssey from a truly unique talent. A captivating, special performance we were blessed to witness. For a couple of hours, we were immersed in Nils Frahm’s world. As the awestruck crowd wandered out into the suddenly silent night, the normal world seemed so dull… Give me Nils’ one any day.

ALFRED GORMAN

Photos by Adrian Thomson