Raphael Loher is a pianist and composer based in Lucerne, Switzerland who combines elements of experimental electronic music, ambient, and minimalist composition. His distinct, crystalline work explores playful reduction and rhythmic abstraction, aiming to create singular resonances and aesthetic connections.
His meditative style of piano playing allows shimmering rhizomatic structures to emerge, giving rise to tense narrative arcs. Loher expands his sound spectrum by preparing the piano, using effect pedals, and working with a tape recorder.
Loher’s new album Figuren is a radically innovative album shaped by intuition, experimentation, and a deliberate distance from his primary instrument — the piano. Reworking intimate concert recordings made during a residency, Loher deconstructed selected melodies, tones, and resonances into new forms, transforming them further through tape manipulation.
Questions and Answers:
3 FACTS
1: I like to walk
2: I like to run
3: We are all made of stardust.
11 QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Beeing connected
2. How and when did you get into making music?
The first time I heard a pianist playing the blues, I knew I wanted to do that, too.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time? (yes we know it is difficult).
Talk Talk – Laughing Stock
Karen Dalton – In My Own Time
Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru – Spielt Eigene Kompositionen
Rafael Toral – Aeriola Frequency
Eddie and Ernie – Time Waits for No One
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Good Sudanese Food. (I’ve never been to Sudan)
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
The lake and the mountains. I live near a mountain called Mittaggüpfi. From where I live, it takes me about 5 hours to hike to the top, which is 1916 meters above sea level. The view from up there is wonderful.
I don’t have a favorite spot by the lake, but I do have a favorite route. I love running along the lake in the morning from Kriens toward Kastanienbaum.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
I would be a capricorn
7. What was the last record/music you bought or listened to?
Last week i ordered Rafael Toral «Sound Mind Sound Body» and «DOOMED!» from Open Mike Eagle & Kenny Segal. Both Artists i follow and love since a longer time.
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Rafael Toral or Beatrice Dillon
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
I recently saw The Necks at the Palace in St. Gallen, and I think this was about the fifth or sixth time I’ve seen them live. The beginning of the concert was kind of rough—it didn’t sound great, and I couldn’t really get into the music. But then the band’s magic suddenly kicked in, and it was just fantastic.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
For my last three solo albums, establishing a clear starting point was a very important part of the creative process. This also includes selecting the equipment I use for my work and recordings. This initial process creates a clear starting point, which is very important to me for the rest of my creative work.
11. Please tell us more about the development of your new album Figuren?
I like it when the music emerges from a process, and that process determines how the music ultimately sounds—not me. In this process, everything is allowed to influence the work—such as the surroundings, the workspace and the materials used (like the tape machine).
For me, it has become essential to establish a clear framework at the beginning of a process. Setting these boundaries allows me to delve deeply into various materials and truly explore them. And yet, there are always moments when these initial decisions need to be reconsidered, or when materials emerge that were not anticipated at the outset.
With Keemuun, it was the first time I worked within a clear set of boundaries—a selection of just ten keys spanning two octaves. In doing so, I discovered the richness and focus that such a limitation can bring. It was only through this limitation that I was able to create something that feels like a universe of its own—a home to which I’m always happy to return.
For «Figuren», the initial constraint was to work exclusively with samples from ten live recordings from «Keemuun». But as the process unfolded, the tape recorder became an element in its own right, opening up new possibilities and unexpected transformations. Through this way of working, which is based on clear limitations, I can continually create, discover, and develop—shaping various fragments of my musical universe and thereby creating a space, a home, to which I can always return.
