Last autumn, when concerts and live music were still not possible Frieder Nagel looked for alternative ways to present his music. He created an audiovisual installation called "Sonido Blanco" at the top of a magnificient old tree which seemed to spring to life when park goers passed by at night. Being installed and developed together with light artist Stephan Scheiderer for over two months the tree more and more gave the impression that it could lift off and leave this earth at any second as it was covered in a myriad of colours. The accompanying musical composition combined abstract ambient noise and distant, melancholic melodies and laid the foundations for his new EP The Arrival published by Paris based label InFiné in the beginning of 2021 besides one of Nagel´s earlier orchestral works performed by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester of Berlin. 

"Distract Robots is an otherworldly treat; its five tracks take the listener down a constantly morphing auditory wormhole full of light, darkness, and cosmic bliss [...] the listener is presented with a set of dystopic ballads and pensive, melancholic outings that carry deep, emotive cores. Distract Robots is a debut of staggering details and depth, and one that warrants many return visits." XLR8R (US)

This 12" has become an album in miniature with a final polish by mastering guru Zino Mikorey – known for his work for Nils Frahm ́s All Melody. This EP offers up a mystical world, full of warm synths and detailed sound clusters morphing into each other to form utterly dark and dystopian ballads. Nagel gets lost in obsessively endless sessions with his instruments. He isolates himself and spends night after night drifting away from reality. The result is that his tracks carry moments of utterly deep relief and deliverance, as well as despairing sadness and stoical escapism.