Otto A. Totland shares new Nils Frahm produced single 'Rift' via LEITER
Otto A. Totland shares new single 'Rift'
New album Exin, which was co-produced by Nils Frahm, is due out on June 14th via Leiter
“Instantly propels to the top of my all-time favorite albums” Popmatters
Today, Otto A. Totland has shared stunning new single 'Rift'. The track is the second to be taken from the Norwegian composer's forthcoming album Exin, which is due out on June 14th via Nils Frahm's LEITER label. Totland, who also performs as one half of cult ambient classical-drone duo Deaf Center, will release his new, sixteen-track album on limited edition vinyl as well as via all digital platforms. It was co-produced by Frahm at his studio in the German capital’s famed Funkhaus complex in
Exin follows 2021’s Companion, the final part of a trilogy of solo piano records that began with 2014’s Pinô and continued with 2019’s The Lost. Given their intimate, subtle nature, many of these compositions have accumulated remarkable streaming figures, but Totland’s musical miniatures are as emotionally eloquent as they are technically elegant, with this latest set proving no exception.
Of his new single 'Rift', Totland says:
"Rift is all about warm chords and spacious piano resonance. This piece was improvised, so my total attention was on the sound and resonance of the piano. It’s short and warm and works great as a small break from the more melodic pieces on the album."
Totland, who was born and still lives in Porsgrunn, came to composing music for piano via an unconventional path. “My parents had good taste,” he elaborates. “They were really into the classics. But there are very few musicians in my family, and I was more interested in computers early on, like the Commodore 64. I got one of the first trackers where you could program beats, and that triggered an interest in working with computers generally. Then I bought a MIDI keyboard, and that then turned into sequencers. But I got fatigued. I longed for a more basic means of expression. I didn't need all this equipment. I wanted to explore a fully analogue universe.”
Alongside Erik K. Skodvin (aka Svarte Greiner), Totland formed Deaf Center in 2003, with his pretty piano lines at stark odds with Skodvin’s more atonal, spectral contributions. “We’re polar opposites,” Totland smiles. “I'm two metres tall, he's a small, thin guy. I’m more melodic, he’s full-on abstract. So we have to adapt to each other, you know?”
If, nonetheless, Deaf Centre is the sound of two forces in opposition, Totland’s solo work represents the moments where he breaks free, although, he’s quick to highlight, “there’s always something sinister. I love to embrace the darkness in a beautiful thing.” Initially, however, he’d never intended to record alone. The Norwegian felt like he was merely a supporting pianist, not a performer in his own right, and instead required coaxing by multiple forces, namely Skodvin himself, Monique Recknagel, owner of bespoke label Sonic Pieces, and Nils Frahm, who’d released 2009’s Wintermusik on the latter imprint and produced Deaf Center’s 2011 collection, Owl Splinters.
“Nils was like a third member,” Totland recalls fondly of the latter experience, “so although I wasn’t confident about recording solo, it felt like the most natural thing: ‘Come back, no stress, it’s going to be easy!’ That started a chain reaction that led to me sitting down and composing.” Frahm went on to produce not only Pinô but also The Lost in his old Durton Studio, while Companion was recorded at Frahm’s Funkhaus studio by his regular associate, Grammy-winning engineer Antonio Pulli. All three were then released by Sonic Pieces, but on Exin Frahm and Totland formalise their relationship, with Totland not only transferring to LEITER but also working more closely than ever with the celebrated musician over three intense days at Funkhaus.
Amusingly, Totland still wasn’t certain that Frahm was going to produce until he actually arrived at the studio. “Then the doors opened,” he remembers with fond amusement, “and Nils burst in with his crew.” Still Totland concedes, the process wasn’t always as easy as Frahm had promised him it would be. “One piece can take a day, so three days is a really short time for me,” he admits, “and when I work with Nils, it's not only about praise, he drove me hard, but we always have a great connection, and if it's not easy that’s because it shouldn't be. This is the kind of music I want to listen to. That's why I make it.”
Tracklist
Savely
Exin
Lys
Seveight
Fivril
Mirror
Tapper
Stego
Days After
Ono
Imilla
Luby
Soma
The French
Otto A. Totland Online:
Twitter | Website | Spotify | Apple Music
