adapted from the press release by Ben Hogwood

Frieder Nagel continues his new series with Who Knows, featuring Daniel Brandt — composer, drummer, and co-founder of the acclaimed Brandt Brauer Frick.

A dark and menacing track unfolds under severe rhythmic tension. While constantly building, its long elegiac melodies slowly evolve and dissolve within majestic string arrangements and Nagel’s signature Moog sound. The single is accompanied by two additional versions: a shorter, more condensed radio edit, and a beatless ambient version that brings the meticulously crafted sound design to the forefront.

Nagel and Brandt first met in 2019, when Nagel directed Brandt’s music video Flamingo for Erased Tapes. A year later, they collaborated on a dance opera with Japanese choreographer Fukiko Takase at Uferstudios Berlin, which premiered at the Gluck Festspiele. Who Knows finally captures on tape the unique creative chemistry that sparks whenever the two artists meet.

Frieder expands on the track. “In the end, we are total opposites. Daniel is literally just back from touring Asia — he’s constantly on the move with his band, his solo project, or his work as a producer and director in London. Drums are, in a way, extroverted — expressive and primarily rhythmic. I, on the other hand, live a much calmer life in the woods, focusing on introspective works like audiovisual sound art, installations, or score production, where melody and synthesis take the lead.”

It is precisely this contrast that makes Who Knows so captivating: Nagel’s calm, melodic sensibility colliding with Brandt’s impulsive, almost restless energy. The result is a striking duality — a tension that is hard to define but impossible to ignore.

Where Do As I Please (above), released earlier this year, explored the theme of overcoming creative struggle, Who Knows feels like a blueprint for Nagel’s new artistic direction — moving further away from his downtempo and electronica beginnings toward new shores and inspirations, offering raw, unpredictable music that leaves the listener wondering what comes next.

Published post no.2,700 – Monday 27 October 2025