Back in 2021 when Nils Frahm released his massive double album of piano ballads titled Old Friends New Friends, we may not have known the extent to which the composer would later pivot from the instrument he’s come to be associated with. His latest, equally epic collection of songs Music for Animals is entirely composed on non-piano tracks aiming to recreate certain peaceful tones only found in nature. “My constant inspiration was something as mesmerizing as watching a great waterfall or the leaves on a tree in a storm,” Frahm shared regarding the collection. “It’s good we have symphonies and music where there’s a development, but a waterfall doesn’t need an Act 1, 2, 3, then an outcome, and nor do the leaves on a tree in a storm.”
With the record set for release on September 23, Frahm is giving us plenty to chew on before then with the epic final single before Music for Animals’s arrives. “Briefly” defies its name at nearly 30 minutes with a mesmerizing, pleasing ambiance that slowly builds to incorporate new pleasantly droning instrumental textures—and which isn’t totally unlike the distant sounds of a waterfall—before those layers are slowly stripped away in the track’s final moments.
Hear for yourself below, and pre-order the record here.
