BEN LUKAS BOYSEN | Spells
Who could’ve predicted neo-classical’s sudden surge in popularity ? Call it what you will – modern composition, ambient, sound art, or call it all three—it seems a greater portion of listeners than ever before have cottoned onto the delicate, slow-burning beauty of what, until recently, has been a kind of best-kept secret, preserved for those in the know. As is often the case when a style of music—if you can generalize it—catches aflame, one artist drove this upwards spike.
Nils Frahm, with his clever intermingling of electronics and classical tropes, has become its figurehead, (alongside a handful of others, like Max Richter), and this form of composition has had support from some prominent figures, such as the UK’s taste-making DJ, Mary Anne Hobbs. But if any one label can be said to be pushing the scene, it’s Frahm’s home imprint, Erased Tapes. The label has been quietly releasing an exceptional and very particular sound since 2006. Though counting more overtly dance acts among its stable, like Rival Consoles, for the most part, that intersection where machines meet human emotion, and instrumentation meets programming, has been their specialism. Ólafur Arnalds, who recently, like Nils, created an edition of the Late Night Tales compilation series, is among their rising names, as is Ben Lukas Boysen.