Phraim

The Swiss-Austrian quartet was founded in 2016 out of a desire to break new musical ground and has already released three albums (“/fɹeɪm/” in 2018, “Tides” in 2020 and “Hysteria” in 2022), which were highly praised by the international press.

Even after a line-up change in 2020, Nina Reiter, Viola Hammer, Marc Mezgolits and Peter Primus Frosch remained true to their principle of a working band and work on their music as a collective. The result of this cooperation, shaped by years of collaboration and mutual trust, is a contrasting, changeable contemporary jazz that cannot be pigeonholed. Gripping grooves and atmospheric improvisations, confident interplay or fragile interludes are not contradictory when four sovereign musical personalities pull together to create a sophisticated sound spectrum that is as rich in variety as it is profound.

Nina Reiter

vocals • composition • lyrics

Nina Reiter

vocals • composition • lyrics

Born in 1991 in Graz, Austria, Nina Reiter developed an interest for music at a young age. After graduating school she first studied Jazz Voice at the MUK university in Vienna before moving to Switzerland in 2013 to study at the Hochschule für Musik Lucerne, completing the Master studies in Performance Jazz Voice as well as Music Pedagogy. Her debut album „Night, sleep, death and the stars“ was released in 2016 on Unit Records. She is currently a faculty member at the music school in Lucerne and also teaches Songwriting at the HSLU.

Peter Primus Frosch

drums • composition

Peter Primus Frosch

drums • composition

Peter Primus Frosch was born in 1990 in Waidhofen/Thaya, Austria. He started playing drums at the age of five. After finishing his Bachelors at the MUK university in Vienna in 2014 he continued to study abroad at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague as well as at the HSLU in Lucerne. His first album as a leader „Prime Time“ was released in 2018 featuring Lukas Gabric and Thomas Gansch. Peter Primus Frosch is currently living in Kriens and is working as an educator and freelance jazz musician.

Viola Hammer

piano • composition

Viola Hammer

piano • composition

Mareille Merck was born in Stralsund (D) in 1996 and lives in Zurich (CH).

Marc Mezgolits

bass guitar • composition

Marc Mezgolits

bass guitar • composition

Marc Mezgolits, born 1990 in Vienna, Austria, started playing the bass guitar at the age of 14 and recorded his first studio album two years later. He studied Jazz Bass/Electric Bass at the MUK University in Vienna and was part of the European Jazz Orchestra in 2012 before moving to Switzerland. Mezgolits completed his master studies in Performance Jazz Bass and Music Pedagogy at the Jazzcampus Basel and was a member of the Focus Year Band 2018/19. As of now, he is working as a freelance musician in Basel.

deep insights into emotional abysses and flights of fancy

Phraim - Hysteria

Phraim’s new album “Hysteria” is as complex as the circumstances from which hysteria is so often diagnosed.

Musically nuanced and lyrically pointed, the original compositions allow deep insights into emotional abysses and flights of fancy, leaving enough room for subjective interpretations. The strikingly poetic lyrics, with the exception of one poem setting, are all penned by singer Nina Reiter and are strongly influenced by Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, both representatives of confessional poetry.

Listen / Buy

Videos

Love without words

Maleficent

Descent

Live @BeJazz Bern

Sexual Redemption

Live @BeJazz Bern

Phraim Live

upcoming dates
past dates

21/10/2022 20:00h
Stadtfest Ulm, DE

Nina Reiter -Vocals
Samuel Leipold – Guitar
Marc Mezgolits – Bass Guitar
Peter Primus Frosch – Drums

18/01/2025 20.00h
Klagenfurt, Jazz-Club Kammerlichtspiele AT