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Nils Frahm, born on September 20th, 1982, had an early introduction to music. During his childhood he was taught to play piano by Nahum Brodski &ndash; a student of the last scholar of Tschaikowski. It was through this that Nils began to immerse himself in the styles of the classical pianists before him as well as contemporary composers.Today Nils Frahm works as an accomplished composer and producer from his Berlin-based Durton Studio, where he has worked and collaborated with many contemporaries such as Peter Broderick, &Oacute;lafur Arnalds, Anne M&uuml;ller, Deaf Center, Efterklang and Dustin O&rsquo;Halloran amongst other fellow musicians. His unconventional approach to an age-old instrument, played contemplatively and intimately, has won him many fans around the world. For a musician this early in his career, Frahm displays an incredibly developed sense of control and restraint in his work, catching the ear of many fans including Thom Yorke, who featured one of Nils&rsquo; songs in Radiohead&rsquo;s HQ office chart.
In fall 2012 Nils Frahm suffered a painful accident after falling out of his bunk bed and breaking his left thumb &ndash; a disaster of epic proportions. After having four screws inserted into his thumb during surgery, the thirty year old was told to rest by a doctor, and to stay away from any kind of physical piano playing activity during the recovery period. The whole scenario of having a break &ndash; in more ways than one &ndash; is a musician&rsquo;s worst nightmare come true. Any physical injury is a bad omen, especially with an avalanche of a schedule, not to mention the multiple upcoming performances on the near horizon. Fortunately, the doctor&rsquo;s orders could not contain or even come close to preventing the power of music waiting for release. Facing the dry prospect of months without his piano, these were doctor&rsquo;s orders that were never going to be obeyed. As a musician, Nils couldn&rsquo;t resist.
Any negativity, mental agony and physical pain must have been erased, at least temporarily, as Frahm recorded these relatively short, but nonetheless incredibly beautiful piano compositions. The real sparkle to this brevity is that we are left wanting more, much more. Temptingly, the desire for just one more note lies slightly out of reach, but when listened to in its entirety, Screws ensures that our satiation is completely fulfilled. Once out of his cast, nine adored pieces were conceived, one representing each finger. Maybe the music is the medicine, a sipped spoonful of music helping the medicine to go down, because luckily for us the result is a dreamy dosage, played bravely, and unnoticeably, with nine fingers.
&quot;i am sitting in front of a sheet of paper. my right hand is bending over my left thumb. the first day i got out of my cast i could bend it by 15&deg;. now i am already at 50&deg; and that makes me happy. things are going uphill&amp;#8230;
as you can imagine, it is really bad news for a pianist when he gets diagnosed with a broken thumb. that day i was sitting in the emergency room, feeling rather dizzy while thinking of a zillion shows coming up and all the people involved around it. i realised in that moment how busy things have become. it is hard to turn down interesting projects and opportunities, since i surely love my work. it actually never felt like work. playing piano and playing it for wonderful people is the greatest joy i can imagine.
for a couple of days i felt like this all could be over. how pathetic. but hey &ndash; also feeling sorry for yourself has its place some